User reviews

"Repulsion" is a great example of how to make a truly scary movie: The trick is not to fill the screen with monsters or indestructible serial killers, it is to portray fear in a way that will be familiar to the audience. It is clear from early on in the film that the lead character, Carol, played brilliantly by an extremely young-looking Catherine Deneuve, is not exactly normal. When her sister leaves her alone in their shared London apartment for a few days, however, the things that scare Carol are the sorts of things that have scared a lot of people spending the night alone, such as hearing (imagined) footsteps in the hallway and the like. Of course, while normal people get a brief fright from such a thing, Carol descends into a madness of hallucinations. The movie is seen almost entirely from her point of view, using techniques borrowed by later directors such as Darren Aronofsky for his movie, "Pi", which gives the entire movie a claustrophobic feeling that enhances the impact of Carol's hallucinations.

There are no doubt people who would like to explicate this film as an exploration of sexual repression or the like, and perhaps they are indeed hitting the mark in doing so, but this film works brilliantly as pure cinema, with no metaphoric subtext needed.

Overall Rating: 4 stars (out of 4), or 9 (out of 10)

This is only my second comment on a film on here as normally just read others but i had to leave a short comment on this film. I consider myself pretty scare proof as I'm a massive fan of psychological horror but i just caught Repulsion on TV tonight at 1.40am alone, in the dark. As i write its now 6am as all i can think about is this film.

I have never been affected by a film as much this before. Whilst some may consider the first part rather slow i found its a wonderful set-up for what follows. I wont review it as many others already have but all i wanted to say is that this film truly haunted me, genuinely made me jump and kept me tense as hell!.....i cant put it into words

The cinematography is amazing, much better than anything current. The lead actress is astonishing to say the least and unlike other films, this film is truly disturbing. I advise watching alone, in total peace, in the dark.

I can see where lynch got many of his ideas but this is far superior.The last shot is pure genius and very unsettling.

I can honestly say this is now my favourite film of all time.

Roman Polanski's movies divide movie fans. Even admirers of his output will single out a particular movie that just doesn't work for them (in my case it's 'The Fearless Vampire Killers', which for me is an utter waste of time). But I would bet that virtually every Polanski buff would list 'Repulsion' as one of his very best movies. It's a brilliant exercise in unease and paranoia that has lost none of its power of the years. It is still one of the most disturbing movies ever made, and manages to evoke an atmosphere filled with dread and fear without resorting to obvious shock tactics. Catherine Deneuve is perfect as a beautiful and disturbed girl slowly lost to delusion and phobia. This is arguably her most memorable role along with Bunuel's equally brilliant 'Belle De Jeur'. The rest of the cast is interesting, and includes Yvonne Furneaux ('La Dolce Vita'), underrated Brit character actor Ian Hendry ('The Hill', 'Theatre Of Blood', 'Get Carter'), John Fraser ('The Trials Of Oscar Wilde'), and Patrick Wymark ('The Conqueror Worm', and Hendry's co-star in the fascinating but almost forgotten 'Journey To The Far Side Of The Sun'). All the cast are excellent, but Deneuve's unforgettable performance is what really sticks in your mind long after the movie is over. That and Polanski's accomplished and tense direction make this movie essential viewing for all movie buffs. One of the most important and impressive movies of the 1960s, and one of the most chilling horror movies ever made.

Extremely shocking if you consider the time it was filmed!

Carole, a beautiful, young, unusually shy, fragile, foreigner, works in a beauty salon and lives with her older sister Helene in London. Her behavior at first seems "faintly strange" and distant, but it appears like this is normal for everyone around her. Soon we realize she is antisocial and has a psycho-pathological fear of males and sex. When Helene leaves for a trip with her lover, Carole isolates herself in her sister's apartment and surrenders to her morbid fantasies that lead her down a path of hallucinations all the way to murder.

Polanski uses "the world outside" in a clever way, to give us the whole parameter that helps bring about Carole's downfall. The social alienation a foreigner feels, the domination games and the self-interest of the people close to her. The men that approach her together with her own sexual fears, are all catalysts. They create the image of a threatening world and her helpless existence in it, as seen from inside her already troubled mind. Then begins a very true, detailed description of her problematic mind that slowly worsens into madness. Done in a natural and simple way and perhaps that is what makes it so haunting.

The first part is purposely slow. A moment-to-moment reality that builds up tension and soon gives way to a nightmarish world. We watch as everyday reality transforms into a closed-door hell and as Carole transforms from "strange" into a clinical psychopath. The house becomes a character, its dimensions distorted and Carole is left there, to wander in it alone, with the house and the objects acting as symbols to portray exactly what is going on inside her head. (Everything symbolizes Carole's mental decline in parallel). Space becomes distorted. Time becomes distorted. She becomes distorted.

The black and white makes you focus exactly where the director wanted and the visual effects are very limited compared to todays psychological thrillers. Here, the girl and the apartment are enough. The violence is not graphic it is psychological. Polanski's expert use of sound, sets, camera angles and framing all play a great role in creating the horror atmosphere.

Deneuve is Fantastic! In a very difficult part (if you consider she plays alone and without dialogue most of the time) delivering an extremely complex role (her best performance to date) perfectly!! People have rushed to say she was "flat" but in this specific film, I believe that was the intention. The MIND is the protagonist here; she is only the vehicle where the mind lives. Her "underplaying" helps the viewer focus on what is happening inside her head, makes you follow her and go through the experience with her. If one decides to watch this film and not experience it, then yes, she looks hypnotized.

By the time Helene and her boyfriend return, the viewer is just as shocked to have seen what the couple finds there. It is heartbreaking. The very last scene then finishes you off, perhaps giving the biggest clue. Revealing a secret as to why this has happened. And the way this scene is filmed leaves you with a chill in the spine. I became even more disturbed well after the movie was over and my thoughts had settled down. This is why I call this film an "experience".

I think that some factors always needed when putting a "value" on films are often overlooked. Things like: Time of release, Level of difficulty in achievement of the story itself and Level of difficulty because of the budget or the country of production. Based on these, I think that Polanski has created masterwork. It could be considered very slow, especially for today's viewers. And for others it could even be considered a claustrophobic hell. In respecting everyone's personal opinions I would only recommend this to a specific audience and specific friends. Mostly ones who want to concentrate and allow themselves to be taken in by this type of film. For them, I am sure the experience will be rewarding.

This film, the first Polanski made in English, works so well, and for so many different reasons, that I felt like I had to watch it again as soon as it ended.

From the first moments of the movie, Polanski sets up the key conflict, cutting between shots of Catherine Denuve's gorgeous face and of the things she is seeing, all of which are almost frighteningly ugly by comparison. After fifteen minutes of this, it becomes clear why Denuve's Carol is unable to cope with anything in the world around her, and why she is so dependent on her sister and her attractive female co-worker, who provide the film's only beauty other than Denuve. When her sister leaves her alone, her surroundings decay further into ugliness, sending her deeper into her madness. I loved the way that despite Carol's growing insanity, Polanski keeps going back to closeups of her face, which remains beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that no one can seem to notice that she is clearly very deranged.

The only question the film left me with is this: How could Carol possibly survived for an entire lifetime up till the point where the film began?

Sometimes not saying anything in a horror movie, and letting a character lose his/her mind in a setting can really get the goosebumps going, more so than with the recent 'shockers' of late that all seem to take place within a haunted house or have some kind of ghostly secret. The most frightening thing about Repulsion, Roman Polanski's first film in English (and filmed in England) is that everything that can terrify the audience is within the lead character's mind. In this case, the young Catherine Deneuve plays Carole, a part-time manicurist who spends most of her time inside of her apartment she shares with her sister. Polanski piles on the atmosphere like fudge on a sundae- we literally get thrust inside of her mind as she goes into this down-ward spiral.

It would be one thing if the film was a great success just because of Polanski's tricks with adding true fear into the audience, but Deneuve is a big factor in this too. It may be a triumph of under-acting, or even over-acting from a point of view. All through the movie she plays her paranoia and sexual frustration (if not repression) almost like a kind of doll, following orders we can't quite understand. Sometimes she interacts or sees things that are strange (i.e. a cooked and eaten rabbit; the cracks in the walls springing up), but then as the film winds into its climax, she becomes perfected into this kind of traumatized, crazed creature. She is a beautiful person who plays a not too beautiful being, but she somehow pulls it off, even better than in her role in Belle du Jour. Bottom line, if you're tired of getting disappointed with the latest horror films where unexplained phenomena in a house terrorize its main character(s), take a look at this film and see if it will leave you when you're finished with it. A+

This is my third film by Roman Polanski, the others being Chinatown (1974) and Rosemary's Baby (1968) (I barely count Rosemary's Baby (1968) because I remember almost nothing from it). I still have only a very vague idea of his style but thus far, his directing has not disappointed me.

The issues that Repulsion (1965) has are not in the directing, although the pacing could've been better. For me, it's in the screenplay itself. I expected this movie to explore themes like sex, sexism, and other things of this nature. But after seeing it, I don't think this movie actually explored anything. Perhaps it was trying to say something about human nature. Perhaps it was sending a message about men. But I can't help but to think about Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire (1987). My biggest complaint in my review of that film was that it had an interesting concept, but it didn't seem to have anything else. No themes, ideas, or things of that nature. And I think the exact same applies here.

This aside, Repulsion (1987) is a fairly good movie. The acting is good for the most part, the cinematography is great, and the execution of psychological horror is incredible for any decade, let alone the 60's. Very few classic horror films have ever managed to disturb me like they did to the people who saw them in theaters, but this one actually had some good and original scares.

Overall, I'm glad I saw it and I would recommend. I wouldn't, however, consider it a great film.

REPULSION (1965) **1/2 Early Roman Polanski f*ck -with-your-head-fest about a beautiful woman's (an ethereally haunting Catherine Deneuve) downward spiral into madness with some bold ideas

about what goes on in the human mind and its ramifications. Beautifully lensed by cinematographer Gilbert Taylor, jazz-from-hell score by Chico Hamilton and a sharp-eyed editing piece of jolts thanks to cutter Alastair McIntyre all leads to unnerving sense of dread and one of the saddest endings of any thriller ever made. Part ghost-story, part mental illness depiction. Look sharply for the filmmaker as a street musician.

I think one of the reasons I've watched this film far more than any of Polanski's other films is partially due to the presence of the unmatched screen presence of Catherine Deneuve ("Belle De Jour", "Tristana"). Just like Polanski with his direction, Deneuve tends to give everything she has in her performances, and I, for one, have fallen in love with her onscreen characters more than once. Catherine had her breakout role a year earlier in Jaques Demy's delightful "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", but I believe this was Deneuve's first starring role in English. This role is also much different than many of the roles I've seen her in. This role she abandons her dreamy sly persona for a distracted, paranoid persona. Polanski's direction is on fine point here. Even though I think "Rosemary's Baby" is a superior film I've probably watched "Repulsion" a few more times. All three of the films in the Apartment Trilogy are worth watching, and even though this was Polanski's second film, to this day it stands as one of his best entries.

Repulsion is a 1965 Polanski psychological horror/thriller (emphasis on the psychological) about a woman's descent into madness. Carol's (Catherine Deneuve) fear of men (the cause of which is hinted at but never explained) combined with her incredibly intense sexual repression, spirals into outright madness over a course of several days, as she's left largely alone in her apartment. A cascade of mental collapses, hallucinations, violence, and death follow. 

This is a movie that takes a bit to keep going, and the first half primarily focuses on establishing Carol's character. We slowly come to realize that something is clearly wrong with Deneuve's character. Then, in the latter half of the movie, things greatly accelerate as Carol's sister leaves her alone for a few days for a holiday with an older man, and Carol's grip on reality rapidly deteriorates. The very walls of her apartment seem to be cracking and leaking, she leaves rotting food all over the place, and she repeatedly has delusions of being attacked and forced to have sex by a sinister man.

Repulsion is creepy, disturbing, and even downright shocking, on occasion. I was bored somewhat by the slower initial half, but in retrospect, it's necessary for the movie to accomplish its highly effective latter portion. It's a nice introduction to Catherine Deneuve (who's startlingly beautiful, even as such a disturbed character), and it has an ending that's almost as haunting and memorable as another Roman Polanski favorite, Chinatown. Not a bad movie to be compared to, in my opinion.

In "Repulsion" the gorgeous Catherine Deneuve suffers from an industrial-strength case of sexual repression, coupled with a hefty dose of sibling rivalry which foists upon her a succession of rape fantasies and delusional hallucinations. Polanski's direction is unparalleled as he elicits a creepy terror through the use of some fairly unconventional special-effects. The subjective world created for the heroine is a series of dreams and visions of a decaying apartment and psycho-sexual fantasy and this is what the film seems to be about. The cracking walls are perhaps one of the most ingeniously horrifying special-effects in cinematic history. The lack of dialogue that runs throughout complements the restrained narrative design as the neurotic obsessions remain largely unexplained. But for better or for worse, I think better, Polanski's final frame settles on an image which cryptically resolves the entire enigma with a kind of devastating efficiency. All in all, one of the great films of the 1960s.

Disturbing, harrowing tale of one girls' (Catherine Deneuve) descent into madness.

Catherine Deneuve's performance is fantastic--she plays it just right. Quite an accomplishment considering she was only 22 at the time! Roman Polanski's direction, beautiful black and white photography and effective use of sound really helps the film. Ahead of it's time.

Some people have complained about being bored by this film...I'm assuming they're watching in on TV. It's true--the film doesn't play as well on TV. I was lucky enough to see it for the first time in a theatre and it scared me silly. On a big screen you're pulled into the girls' madness--I was jumpy for days afterwards.

On TV it just doesn't work. It's still good, but nowhere near as unsettling. So, if you're going to see it, try to see it on a big-screen TV. This film almost never plays at revival cinemas--a real shame. Probably Polanski's best film next to "Chinatown".

"Repulsion" is one of those films you like to use for an Oscar retrospective, to illustrate both the farce of the award nomination process and the attitude change that comes with a little historical perspective. While perhaps not Best Picture material for a mass audience, Polanski's direction and Deneuve's performance dwarf those actually nominated; when is the last time anyone even gave a thought to "Darling" or "Ship of Fools". And though worthy of its nominations, "The Collector" (in the same Psycho-Drama genre as "Repulsion") loses any contest between directors and actresses. Only Elizabeth Hartman in "Patch of Blue" turned in a better (arguably of course) 1965 performance than Deneuve's "Carol".

Films are a storytelling device with a common visual language and with certain conventions. "Repulsion" is an example of elliptical storytelling as Carol's decent into madness is revealed in a maddeningly slow process as thin layers of her coping skills are peeled away one-by-one.

For most first time viewers the pacing will be agonizingly slow. In part because it is hard to identify with Deneuve's' character and the secondary characters are too irrelevant for any special concern. Once you understand that this is a film you are meant to read, you see that the slow pacing is both intentional and necessary. It gives an attentive viewer enough time to explore the depth of each scene. Then you will see an entirely different film than the one a causal viewer is watching because "Repulsion" has this third dimension. Watch it a second time because you have to know the shape of this movie (and its surprises), before you can become totally involved in its process. This is a film that withholds its best from a first viewing.

Reading a film is something we all should be able to do, not just the pompous people who prattle on about the language of film. The fact is that all movies have codes and most of the codes are part of our general culture-we just have to train ourselves to find them and make them a part of our conscious viewing and not just something that acts on our subconscious.

"Repulsion" is the best primer I can think of for picking up this viewing technique because it is full of shared cultural codes and it does not race along so fast that you miss the images. Polanski positioned it midway between European new wave and conventional Hollywood, you get a concrete and relatively easy-to-follow story with tons of subtle visual and audio clues working on the attentive viewers subconscious.

Some are obvious, like the bathtub. Carol uses the bathtub as a means of purgation and regeneration after her unsatisfactory interactions with the world outside. This is an appropriate use in our culture, so when she allows the tub to overflow it signals that her life is coming apart. When she turns off the water but does not get into or even drain the tub Polanski is signaling that Carol is doomed; because as time passes the now cold water in the tub (soon joined by a dead body) prevents her from performing the purgation and regeneration ritual she needs.

Throughout the film the scenes are filled with dysfunctional and disorienting images and sounds. When Carol goes outside the street is torn up for pipeline work, there is a car accident, street musicians walk backwards (banjo and spoon players are weird even when walking conventionally). The bells of the convent next door chime discordantly during moments of torment. The sounds of children playing inside the walled convent courtyard taunt Carol with a world of peace and protection that she can never hope to share.

Progressively, Polanski goes deeper and deeper into Carol's psyche, as her apartment is rendered both her prison and the dark fantasy world of her mind. The film is basically a chronicle of her slow descent into complete madness. Deneuve is utterly convincing in her role. Largely mute, she must convey almost everything through gesture and expression. Which gives the film a "Wait Until Dark" quality as Polanski plays with one of our most primal fears: that someone will come into a place where we believe we are safe and hurt us. It is even worse in Carol's case because that someone is her abusive father, whose dark figure she conjures up whenever she is alone. Her persistent waking nightmare (or hallucination) is of being ravished by her father while alone in the apartment. Each time she is brought back to reality by the shrill ring of the telephone until finally she cuts the phone cord with a straight razor, thus ending her last link to reality.

There is the slowly rotting food on the counter, including a scary looking skinned rabbit. It looked like a very large fetal pig at first but then I remembered a similar image in "Roger and Me".

Polanski draws an amazing performance from the then 21 year old Deneuve. In ''Polanski: The Filmmaker as Voyeur,'' he related being unhappy with the candlestick scene and provoking Deneuve until she gave him what he wanted. ''She tried to control her rage, but Polanski continued to bait her,'' Barbara Leaming wrote. ''Then she exploded. He gave her the candlestick and she swung at him. The camera had been rolling, and now Polanski had the performance he wanted. . . . The Deneuve the spectator sees on screen is not acting -- the violence is real, directed at Polanski.'' Watch the scene several times just to check out Deneuve's expression.

Ultimately Polanski exonerates Carol. Watching the film again, with the knowledge of the reasons for Carol's disintegration (which is revealed in Polanski's final "Rosebud" shot) , we only want to protect her. Based on that shot I'm sure Polanski wanted us to view/experience the film several times.

While Polanski's direction is first rate, and there are plenty of memorable moments throughout this film, the problem of having a central character without any empathetic moments makes everything fall somewhat flat. From the beginning I got the feeling that this woman had some serious mental issues which other women seem to ignore and men want to exploit. I can accept the fact that this is a disturbed woman, but that alone does not make her interesting or sympathetic. We rarely see her happy, and have no idea what has driven her to this point. Has she always been a half-wit? Did something traumatic happen to push her over the edge? We don't know and the film as a whole suffers as a result.

I must admit that by the time she murders her first gentleman caller the film had reached a sort of comic morbidity. The fact that all of these men are willing to completely ignore the signs of this woman's shaky mental state in an effort to bed her crosses a line from horror to parody.

It is especially interesting to compare this film to Antonioni's "Red Dessert", which also examines the life of a woman on the brink. However, Antonioni accomplishes more in having his central character be sympathetic. Both women are dealing with similar issues and similar threats (in the form of horny men), but Antonioni's is the hunted, while Polanski's, the hunter.

Repulsion is my first Polanski flick. All I know about Polanski is that he's a beloved director that escaped the U.S. because of some under age sexual charges. Hey I don't know the details so, I'm not gonna judge. But it's pretty funny he made this flick when he has issues of his own.

The story revolves around a young lady who obviously has social issues. She's beautiful, sexy, innocent looking, but oh so weird. If she was an ugly male with scars and greasy hair, she'd be that creepy dude you cross the street for. Anyways, she lives with her older sis, and when she's left alone when big sissy takes off for a little lovefest with her bubby, lil mental sis goes nuts.

The story overall was good, but it really kept you wondering throughout what the hell is this chick's problemo. What's the matter with her? She could be so content if she just realized what she has. Which is a good thing, since most movies don't really make you wonder or think. Anyways, it's not until the end do you fully realize what the hell is going on in that cuckoo clock she calls a brain.

Repulsion was well-done on all levels, but it was pretty tedious in it's execution. I enjoy slow burn flicks, but I also enjoy to be "let in" a little bit. I suppose if I was told the movie's half mystery then I'm sure I would have enjoyed it during the initial viewing. Obviously Im not an idiot and can realize a good movie when I see one. So I do realize Repulsion succeeded with it's goals.

Repulsion made me think, ticked me off, felt tedious at times, lacked in some acting, lacked in nudity (my own personal issue) and delivered a well-thought out cinematic experience. But it's not for everyone.

This young woman's descent into insanity is so well documented that you truly thank God that it is not you that is going through this. Leave it to Roman Polanski to scare the hell out of you! I was grieving the death of someone who was very close to me when I saw this movie, and this movie snapped me out of that grief; the awareness that it could always be worse helped. Highly recommended.

A disturbing thriller about a deranged woman suffering emotional violence with nice actors giving superb interpretations . It deals with a sex-repulsed woman named Carol (Catherine Deneuve) who disapproves of her sister's (Yvonne Furneaux) boyfriend (Ian Hendry) sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence . The young nympho has a chatty friend (Helen Fraser) at the beauty salon where they work, who occasionally brings her into reality that doesn't frighten her. Things go wrong when some visitors, as her boyfriend (John Fraser) and the landlord (Patrick Wymark), show up at the flat. From the Award-Winning Director of "Knife In the Water" !. The nightmare world of a virgin's dreams becomes the screen's shocking reality!. Formidable and... Macabre!. A Slick Film of Perverse Originality!

A bizarre variation on a classic theme, a fundamental chiller of the 'Psycho' school, in which a woman feeling alone who has withdrawn from the ordinary world to live at an isolated apartment suffers astonishing nightmares. Resulting to be a psychological, macabre thriller with a frightening feeling of incipient madness that has seldom been realised with such imagination and skillness, though many of its more hallucinatory scenes have been imitated since, being a film really influential. Centering around the director's abiding concerns: sexual perversity , humiliation and insecurity , the eruption of nightmarish chaos into a seemingly ordered world, human betrayal , corruptibility and self-destruction. Here's so much going for this movie with a misfit role, colliding in an interweaving story of loneliness, mental disorder, killing, violence , uprooting, and suspenseful. If the subject matter is bitterly serious and bleak , as the tone throughout is very dark, while the precise imagery effortlessly conveys the tension , the suspense , the claustrophobia and the madness of the situation . Stars are frankly decent. Catherine Deneuve is very good as Carol , the girl whose revulsion for men leads her along with the corridors of lunacy to the cashpoint of violence, showing all the agony of a tormented mind in her eyes. Also pretty good are John Frazer as her boyfriend , Ian Hendry as sister's fiancé , Helen Fraser as chatty friend and Patrick Wymark as a lascivious landlord.

It displays an adequate and intriguing score by Chico Hamilton . As well as evocative and atmospheric cinematography in black and white by the great director of photography Gilbert Taylor .This disturbing and bizarre horror motion picture was well directed by Roman Polanski , it was such a public and critical hit that it quickly established itself as a classic in its field, though at moments turns out a little boring, slow-moving and tiring. Polanski's direction is intelligent, never missing a chance of jolting the spectator with a sudden shock. Roman Polanski claimed that he had such a hard time making the film, shooting with the same surreal , absurdist style as his Shorts , and filming at an constant quarrels with his players and difficulties in communicating with his crew because of his then-poor grasp of English language. The motion picture was co-written and professionally directed by the Polish Roman Polanski . Polanski's cinematic trajectory is hard , problematic and full of incidents. In 1968, Polanski went to Hollywood, where he made the psychological thriller, Rosemary's Baby (1968). However, after the brutal murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson Family in 1969, the director decided to return to Europe. In 1974, he again made a US release - it was Chinatown (1974). It seemed the beginning of a promising Hollywood career, but after his conviction for the sodomy of a 13-year old girl, Polanski fled from he USA to avoid prison. After Tess (1979), which was awarded several Oscars and Cesars, his works in 1980s and 1990s became intermittent and rarely approached the caliber of his earlier films. In 1992 made Bitter Moon , but it doesn't succeed as the erotic drama it's intented to be and including some ludicrous lines from what must be Polanski's worst movie . It wasn't until The pianist (2002) that Polanski came back to full form. His career is full of hits and some flops , such as : his big success Rosemary's Baby , Chinatown , The pianist , Oliver Twist , Frantic, Dance of vampires , Ghost writer , among others . Rating : 7/10. A bleak, sinister movie deemed to be one of the strangest of Polanski. A compelling movie that's a must see for connoisseurs of the cinema's darker corners. The flick will appeal to Roman Polanski. Followers .

'Repulsion' was Roman Polanski's first film in the language of English. He had earned a reputation for himself by directing the critically acclaimed Polish film 'Knife in the Water'. He decided to expand his audience and so decided to make a film in the English language. Summarising the plot of 'Repulsion' is tough to do, as the film is primarily a study of Carol's character and is not at all heavy on plot. Carol is a shy, soft-spoken Belgian girl living in 1960s London with her sister. She seems to be afflicted by Androphobia and is also repulsed by the thought of sex and sexual contact with men. Over the course of the film, Polanski skilfully shows how her mental insecurities and paranoia get the better of Carol as she gradually slips into a state of complete insanity.

What is so great about Polanski's 'Repulsion' and also a lot of other horror films of the 60s and 70s was the fact that horror was used as a concept and it was used in a symbolic and metaphorical way to hint at phobias and insecurities which can plague anyone. Horror didn't always mean having monsters jump up and down while the 'damsel in distress' screams. It was much more profound.

Carol, the protagonist is a very interesting and complex character. She clearly is still a child at heart who struggles to accept some of the aspects of life that come along with adulthood and maturity. She walks down the road and feels the male gaze. She is reluctant to give in to the constant advances from Colin, the boy who is interested in her. She can't accept the continuous presence of her sister's boyfriend in the apartment which she and her sister shares.Due to this inherent mental state coupled with hearing about the distress caused to her friends by the men in their lives, she gradually slips into paranoia and then utter madness which coincides with her sister going out on vacation leaving Carol all alone.

Repulsion's themes like its protagonist Carol are complex. They are open to infinite interpretations. One way to look at the film will be to view it as an exaggerated depiction of the pressures and the fears that every young girl gets drowned by during the period of transitioning into adulthood. Another way to look at the film will be to analyse it as a girl whose distresses are the result of her troubled childhood which gets subtly hinted at(I think) with the last shot of the film. So there is no clear answer to why Carol undergoes what she does in the film, but what is so remarkable about the film is that Roman Polanski understands Carol and beautifully depicts as her someone mentally troubled without judging her and subtly explores the reasons behind her troubled state and her actions.

The film had a low budget and looks like a student film which is something I love about it. You can feel the intimate nature with which Polanski directs this. His direction is nuanced where it needs to be nuanced, and over the top, when it needs to be over the top. The first half of the film is very understated. Polanski uses small but beautiful scenes to imply major things about Carol, eg: After coming back from work Carol sees some young nuns playing together from her apartment window and she watches them with an innocent fascination on her face. When the sister's boyfriend arrives, we see the nuns walking back into the church. There is a scene where Carol gets affected by seeing her sister's boyfriends brushes and razors in the glass on the bathroom cabinet. There is another scene where Carol subtly looks at the wrinkled bed sheet in her sister's bedroom. All these scenes give hints regarding the mindset of Carol. Carol also gets dressed in white or very light colours throughout the film emphasising the virginal nature of her character.

The film is also shot beautifully. I think the black and white pictures accentuate the sense of surrealism and sheer terror in the claustrophobic 2nd half of the half. There are some long takes where the camera remains static while we see the characters move around. There are some long takes where the camera follows a character down a corridor. Polanski also skilfully uses ambient noises. There are some flat out disturbing scenes in the film with no music or score at the background, only trivial ambient noises like a clock ticking. The film also has the look and feel of the 60s London. The scenes in the streets of London where the camera follows Carol walking back to her apartment are beautifully and realistically shot using the Cinéma vérité style of filmmaking.

'Repulsion' is really a one person show from Catherine Deneuve. She is absolutely brilliant. It is very difficult to portray characters who are being engulfed by madness. But she pulls it off and carries the film on her own. I couldn't help but get reminded of 'Belle de Jour', the Bunuel film where she plays Séverine, another young woman going through mental distress.

'Repulsion' is an artistic horror film and it is one of Polanski's best. It uses concept horror to explore the troubled mental condition of the main character instead of using it to get cheap scares. It has also inspired many films. I felt some connection with its style with some other films like 'Black Swan' and 'Take Shelter'. It has thematic depth as well as disturbing content to keep you awake at night.

Belgian girl Carol Ledoux (Catherine Deneuve) is a manicurist working in London. She is shy, tormented, distracted and can't open up to her suitor Colin. She lives with her sister Helen, and can't stand Helen's boyfriend Michael. When Helen goes on an Italian holiday, Carol is left alone in the apartment. She slowly loses her mind with paranoid hallucinations. She is haunted by a fear of sexual assault and she lashes out.

This is an art house horror from Roman Polanski. Catherine Deneuve is playing an interior personality. She's very fascinating as the fragile blonde. She's a box of mysteries. There's a quiet moodiness for the first half. The second half is where Polanski does a lot of old fashion horror effects playing with sounds and camera work. It's a psychological horror movie. It does feel slower than most modern horror movies. The pacing doesn't hold up. The film is expertly shot in black and white. That part does hold up well.

Why on earth is this movie considered a horror masterpiece? It's boring as all heck. Absolutely nothing happens for 40 minutes, then we watch a mute woman go insane. If we had any reason to give a hoot about her character, maybe this would be interesting, but since she appears to be almost comatose right from the start I never once cared what happened to her. Her character never seems real or plausible (how has she lived this way for so long if she's always been so crazy?) and her actions lack any motivation we can understand. Oh, and the bonus for sitting through this endless bore-fest is a "climax" that takes 10 minutes to build up to...nothing. The only redeeming features of this movie are the brief scares (cracks in wall, rape scenes) which are affective at waking you up every now and then, and the rabbit. If Polanski made the rabbit the main character maybe this would have been more entertaining.