I’m from China, and after watching Obsession, I was genuinely shocked.

I’m from China, and after watching Obsession, I was genuinely shocked.

As a married man, I can understand why love and obsession can create such overwhelming fear. The emotional pressure portrayed in this film feels frighteningly real.

I highly recommend that young people watch this movie before getting married. For married viewers, the suffocating feeling of being constantly watched, controlled, and emotionally trapped is portrayed with remarkable realism.

One detail that really stood out to me is that, throughout all the fear and chaos, the only moments of genuine safety come when the couple is lying in each other’s arms. That felt incredibly authentic.

Those who commit crimes should, of course, face justice.

The first male lead’s actions reminded me of landlords in old Chinese society who would forcibly take other people’s daughters to become their concubines. Such behavior deserves consequences. Of course, he could simply have killed the female lead, which would have made everything much simpler, but he would have had to carry that guilt for the rest of his life.

The second male lead’s greatest fault was his dishonesty. His sudden death mainly serves the story—once his role in driving the plot is over, he becomes expendable.

The female lead is the most interesting character to analyze. Why does she survive? Because, in my interpretation, it was never truly her committing the violence or causing harm. From beginning to end, those actions belonged to the distorted, obsessive version of herself. That version represents some of the darker aspects of human nature—extreme possessiveness, jealousy, and the desire for control. By the end, that version has effectively died and disappeared.

The second female character is another interesting case. She keeps putting herself in danger for no good reason. Why didn’t she simply stay away? She should never have inserted herself into the emotional conflict between the two main characters. Meeting a married man in the middle of the night to chat in a car—especially when his wife is mentally unstable—is asking for trouble. Mental illness doesn’t excuse violence, but it certainly makes the situation far more dangerous.

Although the story’s logic is complex, the film has a very clear sense of cause and effect. The surface narrative can be misleading, but once you think about it more deeply, everything fits together surprisingly well.

Most of the horror comes from the sound design rather than graphic visuals. A few loud audio cues can be startling, but the rest is quite manageable. I found that watching the film through the perspective of psychological illness made the entire story much easier to understand.

Overall, I think it’s an excellent film. I rented it on Apple TV, and I really appreciate how convenient that experience was.