本片最大的亮點無疑是瓊。瓊的表演是驚人的、令人叫絕的，在舊塢一眾不可避免受到時代局限的演技派演員中，她的表演難得的非常注重細(xì)節(jié)的真實度，例如強忍著的哽咽聲，哭過后的抽泣聲，以及各種微小表情都讓表演的信服力陡然增加，正是這些細(xì)節(jié)極大地增強了瓊表演的張力。

其實她在米高梅時期所飾演的角色也從來都不是“木頭美人”，作為flapper girl出道的她一直都以非常靈動的表演、豐富的面部表情和肢體動作呈現(xiàn)在銀幕上，盡管此時她沒有多少可以真正展現(xiàn)演技的角色；跳槽到華納、贏得奧斯卡后為她帶來了更多的機會和角色的可能性、為她的演技提供發(fā)揮的空間，本片就是一個典型例子。

在本片中瓊展現(xiàn)出的細(xì)膩的、真實的、極具張力的演技在之后不斷成熟；在十年后的《怨婦悲秋》里，她被患有精神病的男主用家電砸手后強忍著劇痛留下淚水、嗓音哽咽到沙啞，此時她的演技無疑達(dá)到了新的巔峰?？吹竭@一幕時，我不由地拜倒、感慨：沒有哪一位舊塢演員再能貢獻出這樣“豁出去”的表演、爆發(fā)出如此強大的戲劇張力了。

瓊的表演讓作為忠實影迷的我看得酣暢淋漓，然而亦難填本片情節(jié)在觀感上的遺憾。可以說直到湖邊小屋清除夢魘的段落前都很好，特別是瓊一人重回小屋的橋段，偽主觀鏡頭的出現(xiàn)著實驚喜，雖然和人物走位的配合似乎反而暴露了攝像機的位置，但對氛圍的渲染無疑是極其到位的：此時本片呈現(xiàn)出強烈的靈異、恐怖片觀感，令人膽戰(zhàn)心驚的氛圍里真的很怕會出現(xiàn)jump scare的鏡頭，嚇人的效果真的會很好......

然而當(dāng)此段結(jié)束、夫妻重歸于好時，后面的劇情發(fā)展就屬實有些心累了。首先男主角van heflin飾演這個角色就很難有說服力，并非典型美男子的長相和毫無人格魅力的角色真的很難理解女主角對他的情感。這就更加凸顯出瓊的厲害之處，她的表演讓女主角的經(jīng)歷變得如此的有說服力和代入感，讓人不免想起《阿黛爾·雨果的故事》中阿佳妮所飾演的同樣為狂戀所困纏的少女對著鏡頭控訴道：“您認(rèn)為人們總是能一成不變地控制他們的情感嗎？有時你就會這樣瘋狂地愛一個人，即使你鄙夷唾棄這個人的一切！”影片里，女主角在清醒時也能意識到男主的不值得、自己的瘋狂，但她無法戰(zhàn)勝自己洶涌強烈的情感，加上精神問題的作祟，此乃后話，但正是清醒時反而更強烈的掙扎感無疑讓角色的心理和行為變得更加信服。

也許是情節(jié)設(shè)置的松散，往常我應(yīng)當(dāng)是很喜歡那些很dramatic的沖突時刻的，即使情節(jié)上會落入俗套，但本片一系列聯(lián)系似乎不那么密切的戲劇性沖突只讓后半段的我不斷感到疲倦了。譬如對死去夫人的夢魘和對男主愛恨的兩條線之聯(lián)系似乎稍顯牽強，這也使得個人觀感在極具靈性的“鬼屋”段落后便急轉(zhuǎn)直下?？偠灾?，本片的劇情讓我理解了看似高深、設(shè)置各種心理學(xué)概念的此片未能在影史留名的原因，但瓊的表演使得本片多了一個閃耀之處，她的表演的確是奧斯卡級別的。然而獲獎涉及到的因素就遠(yuǎn)不止是演技了，幸好，有《欲海情魔》已給了瓊一些公道。

A Joan Crawford’s star-vehicle directed by German émigré Curtis Bernhardt, in POSSESSED (not the namesake film Crawford made in 1931 with Clark Gable), Crawford plays Louise Howell, an erotomaniac possessed by her desire over David Sutton (Heflin), an engineer who cannot reciprocate her with the same obsession.

The film opens with a frazzled Louise roaming in the streets of Los Angeles, unable to utter another word besides “David!”, she succumbs to a stupor and is taken to the hospital, under the treatment of Dr. Willard (Ridges), she lets up her stories in flashback from the falling-out between her and David, he considers her as a mere intermezzo in his life, yet she contends to be his theme song (aka,Schumann’s Carnaval, Op. 9 piano solo), the music cue plays a significant role in the later stage which compounds Louise’s descent into psychosis.

A trained nurse hired to minister to the invalid wife of the wealthy industrialist Dean Graham (Massey, a salt-of-the-earth ilk but also mulish enough to seek the impossible) and after a horrific event crops up near the family's lake house, leaving Dean a widower, Louise choose to stay on with the Graham family in Washington D.C. on the strength of seeing David again, since Dean is his boss.

When David reappears in her life, Louise goes all out to reignite their romance, but the latter is completely out of love with her, humiliated and disillusioned, she accepts Dean’s marriage proposal in spite of both twig that she isn’t in love with him. Loveless-but-affluent marriage usually functions well for most people, but Louise receives a bolt from the blue when she finds out David and her step-daughter Carol (a debutante Brooks) have become an item, which is the tipping point driving her into further hallucination where reality and unreality has blurred their finitude.Two murderous occurrences are confected, only one transpires to be veridical (the other sending up its blasé staircase confrontation trope), but the ending, nevertheless, ladles out enough psychobabble to augur everything will be fine for the misfortune-ridden Lousie.

Nabbing her second Oscar nomination, Ms. Crawford makes for a barnstorming presence, histrionic occasionally, but speaking of a tarnished soul desperately hanging on her tapering pride, she is magnificent to behold (decked by jewelry and finery if she sees fit), less savory if she has to play the smitten lover against a miscast Hefin, whose thuggish comportment is a far cry from a mathematic engineer, one basically feels apathetic to his character’s comeuppance, and wonders what women see in him is so deadly irresistible? That said, POSSESSED shows upBernhardt’s expressionist flourish in his spooky orchestration that torments Louise’s sanity and boosts a strong showcase for its middle-age conscious star, who refuses to be sidelined, neither by the man she yens for nor by the ageist and sexist system, into which she has been sinking her teeth for over two decades starting from its bottom rung.

referential points: Michael Curtiz’s MILDRED PIERCE (1945, 6.9/10), David Miller’s SUDDEN FEAR (1952, 7.1/10)