Obsession (1976 film)

Obsession is a 1976 psychological thrillermystery directed by Brian De Palma, starring Cliff Robertson, Genevive Bujold, John Lithgow, and Stocker Fontelieu. The screenplay was by Paul Schrader, from a story by De Palma and Schrader. Bernard Herrmann provided the films soundtrack. The story is about a New Orleans businessman who is haunted by guilt following the death of his wife and daughter during a kidnappingrescue attempt. Years after the tragedy, he meets and falls in love with a young woman who is the exact lookalike of his long dead wife.

In 1959, Michael Courtland Robertson, a New Orleans real estate developer, has his life shattered when his wife Elizabeth Bujold and young daughter Amy are kidnapped. The police recommend that he provide the kidnappers with a briefcase of shredded blank paper instead of the demanded ransom, as the kidnappers will then be more likely to surrender when cornered, rather than attempt to escape with cash in hand. Courtland agrees to this plan. This leads to a bungled car chase in which both kidnappers and victims are killed in a spectacular explosion. Courtland blames himself for the deaths of his wife and daughter.Fifteen years pass. Courtland is morbidly obsessed with his dead wife, and regularly visits a monument he has had built in her memory. The monument is a replica of the church Basilica di San Miniato al Monte where he and Elizabeth had met many years before in Florence, Italy. His real estate partner Robert LaSalle Lithgow convinces Courtland to tag along on a business trip back to Florence. While there, Courtland revisits the church, and suddenly comes face to face with a young woman named Sandra Bujold who looks exactly like his late wife. The already slightly unhinged Courtland begins to court the young woman, and subtly attempts to transform her into a perfect mirror image of his dead wife. ........

Source: Wikipedia