From its origins in the myths of Ovid (such as Pygmalion or Galatea, Psyche and Cupid, and the Narcissus myth), to medieval tales of tragic love triangles (like King Arthur, Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot and Mark, Tristan, and Isolde), on to the Romantic tales of the Brontes, and as explored in twentieth-century works of writers of erotica like D.H. Lawrence and Anaïs Nin.

The book features seminal works on obsession such as Buñuel's Un Chien Andalou, Dietrich's The Blue Angel, Peter Ibbetson, The Phantom of the Opera, Renoir's La Bête Humaine, and Of Human Bondage.

It also explores the explosive nature of obsessive love in films including Romeo and Juliet, Duel in the Sun, Wuthering Heights, Carmen, Last Tango in Paris, Betty Blue, Sid and Nancy, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and the films of Wong Kar-wai and Pedro Almodóvar.

The book explores the tropes of the fugitive couple or "love on the run," centering on films like Gun Crazy;, Truffaut's Mississippi Mermaid and the remake Original Sin; Moulin Rouge!

In the final chapter, Cinema of Obsession concentrates on the female gaze and examples of female obsession in film (e.g. Jane Eyre, Lady Chatterley's Lover, The Story of Adele H., Fatal Attraction, The Lover, The Piano, and Vanilla Sky.)