Bear saying that Nikki would "hate" citrine. Citrine, which is sunshine and remarkable healing. Citrine, which supports emotional well-being, stimulates clarity, and promotes creativity. A crystal which is believed to dispel negative energies. To replace them with joy and optimism. Balance. Harmony. Vitality. Everything he refused to give her.
the fact bear only tried to cancel his wish after being told he couldnât alter it (and, seemingly, because he was uncertain about how real nikkiâs love actually was) - instead of wanting to do that from the start, as soon as it was clear that something was wrong with nikki - makes me so, so devastated for her. itâs clear he was more concerned with what he was getting out of the wish, rather than the detrimental effect it was having. and like, everyone could tell something was up with nikki, itâs not as if it wasnât clear. him hanging up the phone as soon as nikki is out on the line (screaming) is so symbolic of how he is completely ignoring how he is ruining her life throughout the film
That moment where Nikki tells Bear that she's writing a love story that isn't a romance, and he doesn't get it. Can't recognize the difference between the two things, and the way it dooms them all. ugh. UGH. NOBODY TOUCH ME
LOVEEEE wish!nikki being faceless. her face being backlit or her entire body being shadowed in darkness. wearing clothes that are completely removed from her style before the wish. having a higher pitched voice than she did before. not being able to smile the same. itâs not just that nikkiâs face hidden in shadow, everything that made her HER has also been covered up with something else. wish!nikki doesnât have a face of her own, she just has what bear wants projected onto her.
I think the thing that is the most disturbing to me about Obsession is just how quickly it becomes totally clear that Bear not only never loved Nikki, but that he never even liked her.
In the little time we spend with Nikki before she becomes possessed âfreakyâ Nikki, Obsession goes to great lengths to establish Nikki as a person.
In just the first 15 minutes of the film, we learn that Nikki loves writing, sheâs laid back, and that she cares very deeply for others. We see that sheâs funny, she likes to gently tease her friends and joke around. She has ambition and wants to pursue her writing seriously. She has her own goals and thoughts and opinions.
Sheâs also characterized very well by her wardrobe, how she talks, her body language and expressions (courtesy of Inde Navarretteâs absolutely STUNNING and brilliant performance).
In a VERY short amount of time, the audience is given a VERY clear picture of Nikkiâs personality and usual behavior.
Which makes her âtransitionâ into âFreakyâ Nikki all the more horrific when Bear makes his wish.
Because even if we give Bear some grace, and acknowledge that he couldnât have known that the One Wish Willow would do what it did, and even if we treat his kissing her on the first night she comes over as morally grey (although in my opinion he absolutely did take advantage of the fragile mental state he believed her to be in), there is no way to excuse Bear blatantly ignoring that Nikki changes so drastically from the person Bear claims to be in love with.
After the wish, Nikki starts speaking differently and using a higher pitched voice, she starts dressing completely differently and wearing more traditionally âfeminineâ clothing. She suddenly drops her plan to quit working at the music store and pursue writing, she stops showing any care towards her other friends and the people in her life. She defers to Bear in every situation, with the only exception being any time Bear shows any sign of moving away from her emotionally (or physically).
After the wish, Nikki becomes a completely different person.
And Bear does not care or show any concern regarding this at all.
Everything that makes Nikki who she is, everything that makes Nikki, Nikki, is just gone after Bear uses the One Wish Willow.
And Bear couldnât be happier.
We get a whole montage of Bear and âNikkiâ as a âhappy coupleâ hanging out together and ignoring everyone around them.
Itâs not until Bear starts seeing actual consequences to his wish, such as âNikkiâ causing a scene on their date or feeding his dead cat to him, that he begins to worry about her behavior.
And even thenâEVEN THEN!!!!âBear STILL adamantly refuses to accept that Nikki is not behaving rationally or how she used to in any way. While he eventually acquiesces to canceling his wish, he first tries to just âalterâ it to make it so Nikki still loves him, but is just less intense.
He would rather use âNikkiâ to satisfy his own desires and ego.
If Bear loved Nikki, hell, if he even just LIKED her for who she is, he would be horrified by âfreakyâ Nikki. He would have recognized and acknowledge extremely early on in their relationship, that something was deeply wrong. He would know that the woman he was with was not Nikki.
But Bear would rather have a bootleg version of Nikki that he can feel validated by, than have an actual relationship of any kind with the real Nikki.
He does not love Nikki. He does not even like her.
He likes the idea of Nikki. He likes the image of Nikki that heâs constructed of her, the image of her that only exists in his head.
He likes the fantasy of what Nikki would provide to him emotionally and physically.
From the beginning of the film, Obsession shows us exactly who its villain is. Nothing that âFreakyâ Nikki does horrifies me as much as Bearâs treatment of Nikki and his refusal to see her as an actual person with autonomy.
For me thatâs the most disturbing element of Obsession. That the people you trust the most and care about may be so obsessed with the version of you theyâve created in their mind that theyâll actively ignore your personhood and autonomy.
God. Obsession is so fucking good. I love film. I love cinema. Thank you Inde Navarrette. Thank you Curry Barker. Film of the year, if god hates horror fans why do we keep winning.
I love Obsession because with the way that you often see dubious consent tropes like love potions, mind control, sex under false pretenses, ect... It is so nice to see a work of fiction actually address these situations as being as traumatic and violating as they would realistically be and intentionally use it as a metaphor for abuse/SA
I am a firm believer that Nikki Freeman saved herself.
She made the wish, presumably, that Bear would love her as much as she loved him, and only after she makes that wish does he become strong enough to let himself die. He stop trying to vomit, he goes out to see her, and he finally dies, setting her free. He didnât do that though. She made a wish that forced him to love her enough to save her. Yes, she did this unknowingly, but it was still ultimately her action that freed her from the wish.
One thing about Obsession (2026) that I enjoyed was that it almost asks you to feel empathy for the entity possessing Nikki as well as the real one. Like, obviously the things she's doing are horrific and fucked up, but I think the scene where Bear is asking her to "just be Nikki!" and she eventually just desperatly screams "I can't be Nikki!" does a really good job of showcasing the entity's inner feelings. She's been created with the sole purpose of loving this guy more than anyone else but no matter how perfect it is or how much he claims to love her, its not her that he loves, its Nikki. And any time she stops pretending to be Nikki, he reacts (albeit rightfully) with disgust and horror. She can't be Nikki because Nikki would never love Bear, and so Bear will never love her.
I genuinely appreciate how obsession doesn't try to frame bear as morally grey but just fully leans into how deplorable he is. a lesser movie would have tried to give him redeeming moments along the way but no, at every single crossroads bear makes the wrong choice. when the customer service rep asks him if he wants to cancel his wish, he says no, and asks to alter it. when nikki, the real one, begs him to kill her, he asks her "if it would be so bad to love him", and right at the end, backs out of killing himself and tries to throw the pills up. he is the villain, not another victim, not a confused, cowardly boy, the villain.
for eveyone sympathizing with bear being a fucking loser, he is a 25 year old man btw. a GROWN ass fucking man. who can not tell his feelings to a girl???? he cant as a girl out??? YOU ARE 25. thats a skill issue man. people solve that stuff in high school. i understand the fact that its his best friend and blah blah blah. but omfg just talk man. nikki DIRECTLY asked "do u like me" and he was "umm.. uhhh. umđ°" VRO.
and anyone else that defends him bc u are like him (as grown ass adult), u are a loser too and have to be better. adults HAVE to be able to make uncomfortable and hard conversations. thats part of being an adult.
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