In my latest article for 1428 Elm, I explore why Possession is such a film born of its time, a response to Cold War geopolitics and Polish director Andrzej Żuławski‘s divorce from actress Malgorzata Braunek. As bonkers as the film is, and it truly, truly is, it’s a perfect marriage of the personal and political. Needless to say, when the Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Robert Pattinson plans to produce a remake of the cult film, with Smile director Parker Finn on board, I, along with others in the film community, were shocked.

How exactly do you remake Possession? How do you capture the personal anguish and emotional turmoil that Zulawski captured on screen, inspiring once-in-a-lifetime performances from a rather young Sam Neill as Mark and Isabelle Adjani as Anna? Zulawski has stated over the years that the dialogue in the film mirrored arguments he had with his ex-wife. This is why the film works so well as a metaphor for divorce. For Zulawski, this film was utterly personal, a way to process his own emotional pain. That’s a sort of muse that a remake would prove difficult to conjure.

Not only that, but Possession is a film that’s also a response to the Cold War. Mark works as a spy behind the Berlin Wall, which factors heavily into the film, increasing his paranoia and the division between he and Anna. It’s a perfect visual metaphor for the times, literally a country split in two, and Anna and Mark’s fractured relationship. There is no contemporary visual metaphor that would work as well. The wall factors heavily into the film, with spies constantly watching Mark’s every move.

Further, how do you top Adjani’s bewitching performance? It’s truly one for the ages, and I don’t just mean the wild subway scene, which has been referenced in several contemporary horror films, including The First Omen and Climax. Her performance earned her an award for Best Female Performance at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. That sequence alone is one of the best body horror sequences in all of cinema, a potent metaphor for her character’s distress. These points don’t even address the film’s other wild elements, such as the doppelgangers and tentacle monster.

Parker Finn and Robert Pattinson are immensely talented. They have the funds and connections to make whatever films they want, including a remake. The original will still exist. Still, I’d rather see them channel their talents into a different project. Possession is a perfect marriage of the personal and political that seems impossible to replicate.