“Obsession” An anti-moral love story where all sorts of obsessions intertwine *Note! Contains spoilers.

anti-moral theme

``Obsession'' had an extremely difficult time raising funds. I guess so. This work has a very dangerous theme. The theme is "incest."

Sandra's true identity is actually his beloved daughter, Amy. Unaware of this, Michael sees a resemblance to his late wife in her and falls deeply in love with her. If you think about it, Vertigo is a story about A Man pursuing the shadow of a woman who is no longer in this world. He then attempts to bring the dead back to life from the underworld by dressing another woman in the same clothes and hairstyle as the deceased. As a variation on this, Obsession incorporates the motif of incest. Although it was deleted from the main story, the original script apparently included a scene in which the two make love. Paul Schrader insisted on the need for it, but those around him were hesitant.

"I can't imagine why that happened. Maybe the producers thought it would lose the PG rating. In the end, all that was left was the incest suggestion. The decisive trigger is gone.”

“Obsession” (c)Photofest / Getty Images

Paul Schrader may have thought that by tackling anti-moral themes head-on, he could ``depict a pure form of love.'' However, many of the staff, including Brian De Palma, opposed the direct portrayal of incest. Editor Paul Hirsch says:

"Basically, I thought it was a mistake to bring incest into a romantic mystery, so I asked Brian, 'What if it never happens? What if instead of them getting married, Michael just dreamed of it? There's a shot of Cliff Robertson sleeping. I suggested, 'Why don't we take that and turn it into a wedding sequence?' And that's what we did. It ended up being a projection of his wishes rather than reality."

The ending of the film was also significantly altered from Paul Schrader's scenario. The final version ends with Michael rushing to the airport The Terminal to kill Sandra, realizing that she is actually the daughter he thought he lost 16 years ago, and hugging her tightly. However, in the original scenario, one more person was added.

Michael is arrested for murdering Robert (John Lithgow), who was trying to steal his property, and is committed to a mental hospital. Ten years later, he is released and decides to take revenge on Sandra. Armed with a gun, he returns to the church in Florence. However, what was there was her daughter, who was in a state of insanity. The church priest advises that the only way to save her is to kidnap her again and stage a play to rescue her. Michael follows his advice and carries out the kidnapping play, and Sandra, who has come to her senses, hugs her father...

However, De Palma cuts out this last part entirely. It was obvious that if the entire script was filmed, the movie would be over three hours long. An unbridgeable gap is created between the director and the screenwriter. And there was another person who strongly appealed for changes, saying, ``There's no need for such an ending. They should be together in the end.'' The music was composed by Bernard Herrmann.

Bernard Herrmann's “Obsession”