«I love you» is such an inadequate way of saying I love you. It doesn`t quite describe how much it hurts sometimes In 1946, Jack Warner signed with Joan Crawford and sought a role for her. He sent her the script for Conflict, offering the role of Catherine, which was later played by Rose Hobart. Joanne returned the script with the words: “Tell Warner that Joan Crawford never dies in his films and never loses his men leaving for other women.” However, two years later, Crawford still starred with the director of this film Curtis Bernhardt in the film “Possessed”. This time, the role of Louise was originally offered to Betty Davis, but she was forced to turn down as she was preparing to become a mother.
During his career, Curtis Bernhardt has worked with actors such as Humphrey Bogart (Conflict, Sirocco), Bette Davis (Stolen Life, Payment on Demand), Barbara Stanwick (My Reputation), Olivia De Havilland (Devotion, My Love Is Back), Glenn Ford (Stolen Life, Doctor and Girl, Interrupted Melody), Marlene Dietrich (The Woman Who Is Desired), Miriam Hoepkins (Lady, My Love is Back), Glenn Ford (The Stored Life, Doctor and Girl), Marlene Dietrich (Lady Heaped) and others).
In "Obsessive" Curtis offers to answer the viewer many questions. What's crazy? How quickly can a person go crazy? What should be the reason for this? Is there a way to get back to normal?
Louise enters the clinic in a state of shock, she does not react to anything, and her perception of the world around her is almost completely lost. As she tries to tell doctors her story, she remembers the last years of her life. Curtis skillfully connects the present with the past using a familiar melody on the piano, suddenly darkened water in a glass, a white shirt and other techniques.
David can be called Louise's first true love, before meeting him she had no such strong feelings for anyone. He is a narcissistic womanizer, a hoodlum, Louise's love flatters him and he does not miss an opportunity to humiliate her once again. For Louise, David is the meaning of all life, so she has long lost even the slightest grain of pride in communicating with him. Louise works as a nurse for the ailing wife of wealthy oil tycoon Dean Graham, whose sudden death further scattered Louise’s consciousness. Unable to reconcile with the breakup with David, Louise decides to stay with Dean, because by a happy or rather not very happy accident, he turns out to be a friend of David, so as not to lose at least some connection with him. Love turns into an obsession, Louise begins to hallucinate, she convinces herself that she is to blame for the death of the late Miss Graham. In addition, Dean’s daughter announces her engagement to David, which finally undermines Louise’s condition.
For a better entry into the role, Joan repeatedly visited clinics for people with psychological disorders, communicated with patients to adopt the experience of behavior and motivation of a broken person. These efforts were not in vain, Joan played one of the strongest of her roles and was nominated for an Oscar, and the picture at a budget of 2.6 million dollars the picture in the world box office collected 3 million.