Possessor, the 2020 horror-thriller from Canadian director Brandon Cronenberg, imagines assassination as a form of identity theft: an operative slips into a stranger's mind, carries out a kill through their hands, and then has to find a way back out.
What is Possessor about?
A clandestine firm has turned brain-implant technology into a service for wealthy clients. Its agents do not pull triggers themselves; instead they are wired into the nervous system of a chosen host, steer that person through an assassination, and are extracted once the job is done. The lead operative is very good at this work, but each occupation leaves residue, and the line between her own memories and those of the bodies she has borrowed is starting to blur. Her latest assignment places her inside a man with a complicated life of his own, and the longer she stays, the harder it becomes to tell who is really in control. What begins as a routine contract turns into a struggle for ownership of a single body.
About the cast
Andrea Riseborough and Christopher Abbott carry the central two-sided performance, with each of them required to suggest another consciousness operating beneath the surface. Jennifer Jason Leigh appears as a figure inside the organisation, and Sean Bean, Tuppence Middleton, Rossif Sutherland, Gabrielle Graham and Kaniehtiio Horn round out the ensemble. The catalogue lists the uncut version of the film, which runs just over a hundred minutes.
Context & significance
Brandon Cronenberg's second feature is a Canada-United Kingdom co-production that blends science fiction, horror and thriller elements into one cold, clinical mood. Rather than leaning on jump scares, the film builds dread from its premise: the idea that a person could be worn like a suit. Its vivid, often graphic imagery and its interest in technology eroding the self place it firmly in the body-horror lineage, while the corporate-espionage framing keeps the plot moving like a conventional thriller. Viewers who like their science fiction unsettling rather than comforting will recognise the territory.
Watching Possessor on Ktime
Possessor is available on K-Time with both a Persian dub and Persian subtitles, so you can choose between hearing the dialogue in Farsi or following the original English track. Watching requires a K-Time account; the Farsi-language interface makes it easy to browse the rest of the catalogue once you are logged in. The uncut version contains strong violence, so it is intended for adult viewers.