the thing is bear doesn’t even really know nikki. they’ve been “friends” for a long time but he barely even listens to her, he didn’t even question her concern for her dad’s cancer when Ian and Sarah both immediately poked holes in not!Nikki’s story. all the shots of Nikki obscured in darkness showing not only is she Not there but also she’s never been there, bear has never seen her. only the silhouette of her life on his. and if the one wish willow could puppeteer her husk more seamlessly, he’d be satisfied with the shell of her…
So I did go see Obsession again last night and made sure to pay extra attention to Bear’s little opening monologue when he’s practicing his love confession to Nikki.
Bear doesn’t say a single thing about Nikki as a person in his speech. He doesn’t say that he loves her kindness and how she cares for others, he doesn’t talk about how he loves her creativity or care-free spirit, he doesn’t talk about what he likes about her.
He talks about nice things she’s done for him. He talks about what she means to him. He talks about her being there for him, and how he likes how she’s treated him.
And while I won’t pretend that those things aren’t important, they are the only things Bear mentions in his big vulnerable romantic speech.
Bear’s “confession” tells us literally nothing about Nikki other than that she’s been nice to Bear in the past.
But in a subtle way, his “love confession” tells us a LOT about Bear and his actual feelings for Nikki.
He likes that she’s been nice to him. That’s it.
He likes that she’s been nice to him, and whether it was an unconscious process or not, Bear has responded to Nikki’s being nice to him by becoming obsessed and infatuated with her.
To the point that, once he’s (albeit initially unwittingly) in a position of power over her, he completely disregards her personhood and begins to feel entitled to her and her body.
That’s another layer to Obsession that I find absolutely chilling. That so often just being nice or polite to someone won’t lead to them showing you that same kindness in return, but will instead lead them to feeling entitled to you.
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 “freaky” 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, she’s laid back, and that she cares very deeply for others. We see that she’s 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.
She’s also characterized very well by her wardrobe, how she talks, her body language and expressions (courtesy of Inde Navarrette’s absolutely STUNNING and brilliant performance).
In a VERY short amount of time, the audience is given a VERY clear picture of Nikki’s personality and usual behavior.
Which makes her “transition” into “Freaky” Nikki all the more horrific when Bear makes his wish.
Because even if we give Bear some grace, and acknowledge that he couldn’t 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 “feminine” 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 couldn’t be happier.
We get a whole montage of Bear and “Nikki” as a “happy couple” hanging out together and ignoring everyone around them.
It’s not until Bear starts seeing actual consequences to his wish, such as “Nikki” causing a scene on their date or feeding his dead cat to him, that he begins to worry about her behavior.
And even then—EVEN THEN!!!!—Bear 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 “alter” it to make it so Nikki still loves him, but is just less intense.
He would rather use “Nikki” 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 “freaky” 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 he’s 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 “Freaky” Nikki does horrifies me as much as Bear’s treatment of Nikki and his refusal to see her as an actual person with autonomy.
For me that’s 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 they’ve created in their mind that they’ll 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.
the fact bear only tried to cancel his wish after being told he couldn’t alter it (and, seemingly, because he was uncertain about how real nikki’s 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. it’s 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, it’s not as if it wasn’t 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
i love that Obsession didn't do the "oh if you'd just asked her out she would've said yes" thing.
like that kind of "you didn't need magic, you could've gotten what you want the honest way" dramatic irony can be effective and i see why a lot of writers use it for "be careful what you wish for" plots like these, but i love that Obsession is like, "no. she doesn't like you like that. there is no version of this where you end up dating her, and you need to get over it."
and nikki clearly did value bear's friendship and care about him; if he'd been honest with her about his feelings, she probably would've tried to let him down easy and remain friends - but of course, it's unlikely that he would've been willing to remain friends. bear's both too cowardly to admit the truth to nikki (which would've prompted her to reject him outright and at least given him closure), and too obsessed with her to just quietly accept that it wasn't gonna happen (which would've let him maybe start to get over his crush and move on). he's both convinced they belong together and unwilling to be direct in doing something about it, and he doesn't get even the barest comfort of knowing the real nikki loved him all along. she didn't. she liked him, but she didn't love him. and he swapped her out for a version of her that "loves" him... but doesn't like him. and he still wanted to try and make that work, even knowing the real nikki was trapped and miserable inside the shell of her body, being used by the thing he willed into existence. the tragedy doesn't happen because what he wants is within reach and he doesn't realize it - the tragedy happens because what he wants is impossible, and he refuses to see that until it's too late.
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
I need to see it again to pinpoint the details but I really like how the opening scene of obsession (2026) is Bear practicing his confession with a diner waitress... like already you have a woman (who is not Nikki) fulfilling the role for her, saying the response she thinks Bear would like to hear, but the moment this woman gives her own opinion, offering genuine advice to Bear (something along the lines of buying Nikki something she likes, like her favorite candy, flowers, etc)... Bear disregards it... but then ends up using Ian's recommendation from this same conversation (calling Nikki "Freaky Nikki")... like god its all already right there
the longer I sit with obsession the more empathy I start to feel for entity!nikki. this creature that was created solely to love one person with this all-encompassing intensity that needed to be stronger than anything anyone felt in the entire world. entity!nikki whose entire world was just one single focal point; she'd do anything for bear to love her. she didn't know anything when she came into existence, but she was willing to do anything to get this man to fall for her.
it must have been equally terrifying for her as it was for the real nikki to have someone else fight for control over what she perceived as her body. the scene where she's sobbing in the corner, terrified of her dreams is now more sad than terrifying to me. real nikki, who has just been raped by her once best friend hurting so badly that it seeps into entity!nikki's nightmares. entity!nikki who doesn't understand why the thing she wanted so badly is causing her so much pain. why she can't bring herself to lie in bed next to the man who is the center of her world.
and the worst part is bear doesn't even seem to like her. she's trying so so hard; she made a lovely memorial for his dead cat, she waited for him to come home all day without moving an inch, she made sure to be the most doting girlfriend at the party, and he's not pleased by any of it. he seems disturbed and angry and scared and she has no idea what to do to make it better. to make it worse, he keeps asking her to behave like the original nikki but he was the one who wished for her!! she can't be like nikki because nikki was simply not capable of loving bear even a fraction of how much she does!
she can't seem to reconcile it; he wanted her so badly he conjured her into reality and now he doesn't want her anymore. she doesn't know what to do. she tries everything. she obsesses over him, she threatens to hurt herself, she gets rid of that bitch sarah who keeps distracting him and trying to steal him away, and then dresses in her clothes for good measure and he still doesn't want her.
and then finally in a fit of desperation, she makes the wish and for one beautiful moment its all perfect. he's finally looking at her the way she looks at him. and then he's dead and she's lost everything.
her entire existence, from the moment of her conception to her death was painful, and confusing, and so very sad.
it is terrifying that bear only sought to "alter" his wish rather than cancelling it but what is even more terrifying is that he wouldn't even have called the number had nikki not inconvenienced him. if she did not act in such extreme ways bear wouldn't even have a problem. which is sooooo sooooo terrifying because he was completely fine living and being "loved" by nikki who he knew wasn't the real her. he claimed to love her, but even when she started acting like a totally different person it was water off a duck's back for him. he DIDN'T CARE whether it was the real nikki or an entirely different person.
even when she begs him to kill her, he does not feel even a shred of pity for her; he only worries "is being with me that bad".
the only reason he tries to change anything is because her behavior started to scare him FREAK him out. had she acted in a meeker way, bear would've lived with her HIS WHOLE LIFE knowing she ISN'T the real nikki NOT GIVING A FUCK about what she would've wanted. PERIOD.
the more i sit with it the more i realise that the title of the movie did not refer to nikki's obsession with bear but rather his obsession with her. because i know fs that what he felt for her definitely wasn't love.
this is a moment in the original script that I wish they'd kept in the final version of obsession. the absolute disgusting way that real nikki appearing just becomes routine for bear and he completely ignores her in order to keep her. it's so horrifying the way her torment turns into something he hardly acknowledges
