The Possessed (1965 film)


The Possessed is a 1965 Italian mystery film written and directed by Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rossellini and starring Peter Baldwin, Virna Lisi and Philippe Leroy. It is based on the novel La donna del lago by Giovanni Comisso.

Summary

A visitor arrives in a small Italian village looking for a woman. Residents tell him that she committed suicide but there's more to the mystery than they're letting on.

Cast

The Possessed was based on the 1962 novel La donna del lago by Giovanni Comisso. Giulio Questi was hired to write the screenplay. Along with directors Luigi Bazzoni and Franco Rosselini, a fourth uncredited writer was added to work on the film: Ernesto Gastaldi. For their contributions to the script, Gastaldi, Bazzoni, and Rosselini received 700,000, 500,000 and 250,000 Italian lire respectively. Questi received the highest pay, earning 3 million lire.

Release

The Possessed premiered at the Swiss Locarno Festival on 24 July 1965. It was released in Italy on 14 August 1965, where it was distributed by Telexport, a minor distribution company that only released the film in a limited area in Italy. The film grossed 100,116,000 Italian lire domestically.