By Molly Snyder Senior Writer Published Aug 29, 2002 at 5:36 AM

Neil LaBute's latest film, "Possession," is like eating chocolate-covered strawberries on a rainy afternoon after calling in sick to work. It's sweet and stormy, a guilty pleasure, and although a little nauseating at times, still delicious.

Roland Mitchell (Aaron Eckhart) is an American in London on a fellowship to study the Victorian poet, Randolph Ash (Jeremy Northam). For more than a century, Ash was believed to be a chivalrous, monogamous husband who penned flowery, romantic prose celebrating his love for his wife. However, when Mitchell accidentally stumbles upon a letter written by Ash to another woman, he boldly leaps to the belief that Ash's mistress was fellow poet Christabel LaMotte (Jennifer Ehle).

Although Mitchell realizes that by proving his theory he would gain recognition in the cold, "publish or perish" academic world, he is more than a hungry grad student with a hidden agenda. Mitchell is also a man once deeply wounded by love who buries himself in a 100-year-old romance because he can't emotionally handle having one of his own.

Mitchell seeks the expertise of Maud Bailey, a successful-but-repressed professor, to help him draw a cupid's arrow between Ash and LaMotte. Although she is skeptical at first, Bailey realizes there might be truth to Mitchell's hypothesis. Plus, she is attracted to Mitchell, even though he says unrefined things like "I'm a brush and flush kind of guy."

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The two journey on a romantic adventure through the lush English countryside to find proof of Ash and LaMotte's affair, and meanwhile, their feelings for one another ripen.

The film gracefully flashes between the two love stories, and even though they happened 100 years apart, the tales are similar. At one point the academics share the same bed that was warmed by the poets long ago, reminding us that relationships haven't changed much over the years. They are still acts which result in incredible rewards and sacrifices.

This film has all the ingredients to give you a century-long gut ache, yet it doesn't. Yes, it's predictable at times, the ugly-American-versus-dignified-Brit is a bit cliché, and the characters are annoyingly attractive (especially Mitchell in his hipper-than-thou professor wanna-be cordouroy jackets), but there's just enough mystery-unraveling and corset-untying to entangle you.

And, oh yeah, I smell a date film.

"Possession" starts Fri., Aug. 30 at Landmark's Downer Theatre.


Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.

Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.