story that center on relationship ( such a romance or character study ) must be develop carefully and delicately . do right and they can be fascinate to watch . do poorly and they can quickly become boring . unfortunately and despite it acclaim art house director and cast of well know actor and posession fall firmly into the latter category . a graduate student of victorian era poetry name roland mitchell ( aaron eckhart ) have stumble onto a potentially fascinating discovery represent two famous poet and howard ash ( jeremy northam ) and christabel lamotte ( jennifer ehle ) may actually have be lover . now roland and along with another expert and dr. maude bailey ( gwyneth paltrow ) be on their trail . along the way and they be develop a romance between themselves . posession do more thing wrong than it do right . the big problem be the underlying story . i haven not read the novel by a. s. byatt and but judge by the film and there isn not much story to begin with and certainly not enough for a 102 minute film ( and it not especially interest ) . either that and or the screenplay be bad than it already be . plot hole abound and subplots be start and leave unfinished and and more importantly and there no balance between the dual tale . the performance by the actor do not help much . gwyneth paltrow and aaron eckhart be the big name in the cast and but unfortunately theyre the one we have to spend the most time with . both be good actor ( paltrow win an oscar and though undeservedly and and judging by eckhart climb to fame and versatility and it only a matter of time before he get a statue ) and but they have no chemistry . at least eckhart and a neil labute regular and make a game try . that more than can be say for his co star and gwyneth paltrow . i have never be a big fan of paltrow while she always a little whiny and seem off . she can muster a decent british accent and but that only the surface . a maude and she pretty boring and and for someone whose sudden romance be the unofficial beating heart of the film and she have no chemistry with eckhart . the 1850 lover and jeremy northam and jennifer ehle and aren not exactly well and but they have chemistry and which make them more appealing . the film isn not a total loss while it look great and and i always have a special place in my heart for historical mystery ( even poorly do one ) . but honestly and posession isn not worth your time .