Just got back from finally watching Obsession for the first time and holy shit
My initial thoughts were simply:
1: Indie Navarrette's performance is a dizzying and brilliant force of nature and she deserves a goddamn oscar yesterday
2: Bear is a piece of shit and I'm glad that the movie committed to portraying him as the villain he truly is
3: omg I feel so bad for poor Nikki she didn't deserve any of that
And now that I've had some time to dwell on it:
I love how the excerpt from Nikki's writing that she reads aloud is a fucked up incestuous take on Hansel and Gretel which, when we first hear it, could be written off as just a bit of disturbing shock value. But later when it's revealed to Bear that Nikki saw him as a little brother it recontextualizes the writing in a much more fucked up way. Nikki was forcibly changed to love someone who was like a brother to her and this was like the real her was screaming out that it isn't right.
Absolutely fucked up that once Nikki starts acting too intense for him, Bear first tries to alter the wish and only asks to cancel it after he realizes it can't be altered. Later, he tries to start a romance with Sarah when he hasn't really shown any interest with her before but she was implied to have feelings for him. Like he decides that Nikki isn't worth it anymore so he's going for whoever is still an option that would be easier for him to deal with.
Even in the montage at the very start of their "romance", Bear is already shown to not have as much interest in her as a person when he redirects her face to the tv screen so she isn't looking at him. She's not supposed to admire him, she's supposed to fuck him.
Him not understanding the difference between love and romance was such a chilling part of the movie because it just goes to show how fucked up his obsession with her is and how even if they had gotten into a proper real relationship it wouldn't have worked out anyway because he doesn't love her, not really.
It is so disturbing that Bear didn't really care that it wasn't really Nikki. She acts in a way that's clearly unwell and he still kisses her. He realizes she lied about her dad and he still fucks her. She gets too intense and he only asks to "alter" the wish at first because he still wants her to love him. He hears her screaming in agony on the other end of the phone and he still hangs up because he it doesn't matter if it's her or not. The real Nikki begs him to kill her and he still walks away because he doesn't like the idea of her not wanting to be with him.
I love how the guy who worked at the witchy shop casually mentions that he had also made a wish because it's such a good detail of how the One Wish Willow doesn't deliberately twist or warp the wish at all, and that you can make a wish and have it all work out perfectly fine, normal even, but Bear wished for Nikki to love him in a way that was impossible, so there was no way it would have worked like he wanted.
And just, god, the scene where she pleads that she'll be whoever he wants and when he asks her to be Nikki she breaks down screaming that she can't, because she loves him and Nikki doesn't so she can't be the person he said he wanted.
