Obsession (1976 film)

Obsession
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Brian De Palma
Screenplay by	Paul Schrader
Story by	Brian De Palma Paul Schrader
Produced by	George Litto
Starring	Cliff Robertson Geneviève Bujold John Lithgow
Cinematography	Vilmos Zsigmond
Edited by	Paul Hirsch
Music by	Bernard Herrmann
Production company	Yellowbird Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	August 1, 1976 (1976-08-01) (New York City) August 20, 1976 (1976-08-20) (United States)
Running time	98 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.4 million (estimated)
Box office	$4.5 million (rentals)

Obsession is a 1976 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Brian De Palma, starring Cliff Robertson, Geneviève Bujold, and John Lithgow. The screenplay was written by Paul Schrader, from a story by De Palma and Schrader. Bernard Herrmann provided the film's soundtrack before his death in 1975. The story is about a prominent New Orleans businessman who is haunted by guilt following the death of his wife and daughter during a kidnapping-rescue attempt gone wrong. Years later, he meets and falls in love with a young woman who is the exact look-alike of his long dead wife.

Both De Palma and Schrader have pointed to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) as the major inspiration for Obsession's narrative and thematic concerns. Schrader's script was extensively rewritten and pared down by De Palma before shooting, causing the screenwriter to proclaim a complete lack of interest in the film's subsequent production and release.

Completed in 1975, Columbia Pictures picked up the distribution rights but demanded that minor changes be made to reduce potentially controversial aspects of the plot. When finally released in the late summer of 1976, it became De Palma's first substantial box-office success and received mixed reviews from critics.