Repulsion-1965

Director Roman Polanski

Starring Catherine Deneuve

Scott’s Review #554

Reviewed December 21, 2016

Grade: A

Repulsion is an excellent British film, an early film of the great director, Roman Polanski- made in 1965. The film was shot on a low budget, and the action mainly takes place inside a small London apartment.

Repulsion is part of Polanski’s “Apartment Trio” along with Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Tenant (1976) all set inside apartments.

The film tells the story of Carol (Catherine Deneuve), a beautiful, young, woman who slowly goes insane throughout a weekend, while left alone by her vacationing sister.

Carol is a beauty parlor worker who is seemingly sweet and shy but gradually becomes violent, volatile, and unbalanced. She experiences hallucinations and it is alluded to that she may have been sexually abused as a child.

She loathes men.

The film is shot in black and white with eerie camera shots background noises and very little music. This film has a claustrophobic entity that makes it all the more disturbing.

These characteristics make the film a difficult experience to watch, but that is to its credit.

We see Carol unravel and are mystified by the aspects that make her this way. The bathtub scene and the scene with Carol’s landlord are highlights of their brutality.

Repulsion (1965) is difficult to watch but a wonderful piece of cinema. It is an in-depth character study of an already unhinged woman reaching her psychological breaking point.