Released on May 15, the movie “Obsession” has grossed nearly $300 million at the box office, making it the top-grossing festival film of all time. But what’s behind the obsession with “Obsession”?
By portraying the loss of free will, the film offers a critique of the patriarchal structures that limit women’s autonomy. At the same time, it intersects with the intricacies of relationships, highlighting power imbalances that define them.
The movie tells the story of Bear and Nikki, two coworkers at a music store. Bear has a crush on Nikki, but he’s scared to confess. Bear buys her a “One Wish Willow,” a toy that claims to make a wish come true upon snapping it in half. After a failed attempt at expressing his feelings to her, he breaks the stick, wishing that Nikki loved him more than anyone else in the world. To his surprise, the wish comes true, and Nikki becomes obsessed with him.
At first glance, “Obsession” seems scary due to Nikki’s obsession with Bear and what she does as a result.
“Nikki is shown to be the obsessed one this whole time, and goes to these crazy lengths for Bear, whether it’s taping up the door, peeing yourself, or killing people,” Julia Faig, a third-year at the University of Minnesota, said.
But the film’s true horror lies in Nikki’s loss of autonomy, as she is forced to watch her body act in ways that contradict her genuine thoughts and emotions.
“It’s reaffirming the stereotype of crazy women who are obsessed with you, when that was just not the case,” Faig said. “That wasn’t her, that’s just straight-up not real, but a lot of times that’s what women are watered down to.”
While Nikki may be portrayed as crazy, the audience knows that her behavior is the direct result of Bear’s wish.
When the wish is finally broken at the end of the film, Nikki regains consciousness only to find herself surrounded by three dead bodies, two of whom she has killed while under Bear’s control. Meanwhile, Bear, the person truly responsible for these events, is dead.
The film leaves the aftermath unresolved, but the audience can infer that Nikki will suffer the consequences of actions she was never fully in control of, likely facing imprisonment for crimes that Bear ultimately caused.
“At the end, where she makes a wish with the One Wish Willow, I was so mad because he just died right after,” recent University graduate Britta Pietila said. “When she’s about to get him back, of course, he dies, and now she has to deal with all his shit. I feel like it’s very telling of a lot of modern issues, how women continue to get screwed over by men.”
Pietila said the line that stood out to her most in the film is after Nikki murders Sarah, who holds romantic feelings towards Bear, and goes to comfort Bear.
“When she says, ‘Bear, this is all your fault,’ like, ‘ You know this is all your fault,’ I loved that one because I was like, ‘Yeah, it is,’” Pietila said.
The scene confirms Nikki is aware of the wish and knows she has been stripped of her autonomy.
“I was projecting myself onto Nikki the whole time, just like seeing everything from the real Nikki’s point of view. She’s being tortured nonstop, and obviously in the movie it’s supernatural because you can’t make a wish and someone can change like that, but it kind of feels real,” Faig said. “I feel like it’s every woman’s worst nightmare.”
Even after Bear confirms that Nikki’s behavior is a result of his wish, he continues the relationship, showing he is fueled by a selfish desire for validation and control, not love. If he truly cared for Nikki, he wouldn’t have been satisfied in a relationship where she wasn’t acting like herself, and he would’ve wanted her to be free, regardless of whether she was with him or not.
Bear’s feelings and actions stem from insecurity, but Bear thinks his feelings are love. When he breaks the “One Wish Willow” and wishes for Nikki to love him more than anyone in the world, his idea of love, which is really an obsession, is what Nikki is overcome with. When Nikki is first possessed, she mistakes the death of Bear’s cat as the death of her own cat, symbolizing that the tables have been turned.
“I don’t think he was in love with her,” Pietila said. “He was obsessed with her, and then therefore he makes her obsessed with him, and he doesn’t like it, because when they’re in the car, she’s like ‘Bear, do you like me?’ and then he’s like, ‘No,’ and then she’s relieved. He was obsessed, and she didn’t like it, and now that she’s obsessed with him, he doesn’t like that either.”
Bear doesn’t want love — he wants to control. He doesn’t realize that he’s gone too far until Nikki kills Sarah, someone he had a genuine connection with, rather than an artificial obsession. If he truly cared for Nikki, he would’ve listened to her pleas for him to kill her. Instead, he states the haunting line, “What’s so bad about being with me?”
By exploring these complex feelings and relationships, “Obsession” examines how women are treated within a patriarchal society. Attempts to dominate and suppress women are often disguised as acts of love, revealing how patriarchal power structures can use love as an excuse for control and suppression.
