The violence of disintegrating marriages in ‘Loulou’ and ‘Possession’
Marriage is the ultimate commitment to another person, someone you believe to be your spiritual companion, an individual who understands you like no one else.
So what happens when that union disintegrates? It’s never easy, but, in some cases, it can be violent, as chillingly demonstrated by two films from 1980 and 1981, respectively, both starring the most acclaimed Isabelles of the era—Possession (Adjani) and Loulou (Huppert).
You could call these films spiritual companions to one another, although it’s Possession that is much more widely known—and a much more intense watch. In fact, Possession is still incredibly popular all these years later because of its visceral and painful exploration of divorce, with countless arguments, instances of domestic abuse, and mental breakdowns from both sides of the relationship, making for a relentless journey into chaos. Meanwhile, Loulou features frequent violence, typically from men.
Only these scenes of brutality are coldly portrayed as part and parcel of everyday life, such as when an argument-turned-fight between Huppert’s Nelly, her husband André, and her new lover, Loulou, results in the trio going for a coffee.
Possession, set in West Berlin—where the wall comes to represent the divide in the relationship—follows Mark and Anna as the latter requests a divorce. She wants to escape the confines of marriage, feeling stuck and unhappy, but this quickly descends into vicious arguments involving electric carving knives, chairs, and lots of shouting.
When Mark discovers that Anna is at another man’s house, his first instinct is to go and beat the man up (later murdering him), channelling his bruised masculine ego and hurt through violence. As the movie progresses and takes on a distinctively horror-esque turn with the appearance of a strange creature, the impact of the savagery on both the characters’ psyches becomes boldly apparent.
Loulou, on the other hand, takes place in France, with Nelly leaving her bourgeois life and husband, André, to be with Loulou, a criminal with little prospects or money. She financially supports Loulou, entering a world strikingly different from the one she is used to with André, and it doesn’t take long for us to understand why she wants this new lease of excitement and drastic change. In one scene, the jealous André begins arguing with her in a car, resulting in a scuffle that sees Nelly crawling into the back seat, her body in limbo between the front and the back of the vehicle as André shouts and grabs her. When they get out of the car, he continues to be aggressive, shaking her violently and shouting in her face, resulting in Loulou rushing over and beating him up.
Nelly prefers Loulou, but it’s painfully obvious that he’s no better than André. When Nelly goes with him to a family event, more violence erupts when Loulou’s mentally unstable brother-in-law brandishes a shotgun at the guests. Nelly is surrounded by brute force, and soon, she realises that neither of her options is all that great. After having an abortion, Nelly and Loulou can be seen drunkenly stumbling down the street, their future uncertain.
It’s an end that is in no way optimistic, but it’s nowhere near as bleak as the fates of Anna and Mark, with the pair killing themselves as the police attempt to shoot them. The unhappiness of their marriage—the jealousy and the resentment—only leads to tragedy, with violence the only form of communication left between them.
The destructive force of violence in Loulou and Possession becomes a medium to convey intensely passionate and dangerous feelings of discontent and betrayal, taken to the extreme through repeated instances of fights, stabbings, threatened ruthlessness, or vicious arguments. These films act as warnings. These disintegrating and violent marriages are the result of poor communication, unchecked male ego, a lack of freedom, and personalities that have outgrown each other.
Each film presents separation as a harrowing ordeal. While Possession is perhaps one of the most notable divorce movies besides Kramer vs Kramer and Marriage Story, the oft-overlooked Loulou also offers a poignant look at the trials and tribulations of divorce and how relationships can have a significant, earth-shattering impact on one’s mental state.
