The defence The Auteur Devotee
“Form is the argument.”
Every composed frame and deliberate cut is evidence that control can be thrilling in its own right.
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Obsession
Thriller · Mystery · Drama · 1976
A wealthy New Orleans businessman becomes obsessed with a young woman who resembles his late wife.
Movie details
Obsession
“A bizarre story of love.”
1976 Thriller · Mystery · Drama 1h 39m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
6.7 / 10
Community rating
A wealthy New Orleans businessman becomes obsessed with a young woman who resembles his late wife.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over Obsession?
For the defence
The Auteur Devotee
“You watch the director, not the movie.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Murder on the Orient Express
Drama · 1974
In 1935, when his train is stopped by deep snow, detective Hercule Poirot is called on to solve a murder that occurred in his car the night before.
Remember
Drama · 2015
With the aid of a fellow Auschwitz survivor and a hand-written letter, an elderly man with dementia goes in search of the person responsible for the death of his family.
The Lady from Shanghai
Mystery · 1947
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
The Mask of Dimitrios
Crime · 1944
A mystery writer is intrigued by the tale of notorious criminal Dimitrios Makropolous, whose dead body was found washed up on the shore in Istanbul. He decides to follow the career of Dimitrios around Europe, in order to learn more about the man. Along the way he is joined by the mysterious Mr. Peters, who has his own motivation.
Pushover
Crime · 1954
A police detective falls for the bank robber's girlfriend he is supposed to be tailing.
The Woman in the Window
Crime · 1944
A seductive woman gets an innocent professor mixed up in murder.
Stillwater
Drama · 2021
Bill Baker, an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, Allison, who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.
Islands
Thriller · 2025
In this twisty thriller, a tennis coach at a tropical resort finds himself at the center of a missing persons mystery. Tom teaches tennis during the day and parties at night. When an enigmatic tourist arrives, Tom is unable to shake the feeling he has met her before. Tension and attraction grow, until her husband disappears, and the police suspect Tom.
The Pelican Brief
Thriller · 1993
A law student's theory about the recent deaths of two Supreme Court justices embroils her in a far-reaching web of murder, corruption, and greed.
Five Minutes of Heaven
Crime · 2009
The story of former Ulster Volunteer Force member Alistair Little. Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffin's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.
Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Brian De Palma
Written by
Paul Schrader · Brian De Palma
Cliff Robertson
Michael Courtland
Geneviève Bujold
Elizabeth Courtland / Sandra Portinari
John Lithgow
Robert Lasalle
S
Sylvia Kuumba Williams
Maid
W
Wanda Blackman
Amy Courtland
J. Patrick McNamara
Third Kidnapper
S
Stanley J. Reyes
Inspector Brie
Court is in session
Put Obsession on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Technique in search of a pulse.”
Immaculate construction is still construction. The film may be too busy proving its craft to feel alive.