Depressed novelist Bernard sets off in search of his old flame, Tilde, a maid who works at a remote lakeside hotel. But arriving at the hotel, Bernard discovers Tilde has disappeared. Bernard begins investigating and soon uncovers familial secrets, perversion, madness, and murder.

Building a bridge between noir and the then-nascent giallo genre, co-director Luigi Bazzoni’s innovative debut is an ominously atmospheric true-crime mystery. With liminal spaces reminiscent of Antonioni, The Possessed marries arthouse to grindhouse for a fevered tale of madness and murder.