Possession

Interweaving two love stories that share a literary connection but occur more than a century apart, director Neil LaBute has taken another large and confident step into an unexpected genre with gratifying results. Possession, lovingly but sometimes loosely adapted from A.S. Byatt's novel of the same name, follows the germinating romance between two relationship-reluctant academics (Aaron Eckhart and Gwyneth Paltrow) as they in turn uncover evidence revealing a passionate secret affair between two Victorian poets (Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle). A wild departure from LaBute's caustic dark comedies (In the Company of Men, Your Friends and Neighbors) and the more upbeat Nurse Betty, this effort has the melodic trappings of a Merchant-Ivory romance. But it's also a perceptive musing on what has and hasn't changed between the two time periods in the emotional, practical and sometimes prohibitive logistics of love. Recommended. (R. Blackwelder)