Review of Repulsion (1965) by Matt G — 27 Jul 2015

" I must get this crack mended." Carol's sister thinks aloud. It is a passing observation of Carol's sister. But as Carol looks at the innocuous crack coming down the wall -- she sees something far more sinister than a handyman can repair.

Roman Polanski's 1965 English filmmaking debut has retained a deeply disturbing sense of paranoia and horror that creeps in and stays under your skin longer after the credits roll.

Catherine Deneuve may not have been a technically-trained actor, but you would be hard-pressed to find a more naturalistic and realistic descent into insanity.

Polanski as always claimed he knew very little if anything about human psychology, but even now this film fits a casebook study of PTSD-driven insanity. "Repulsion" is a tightly-wound psycho-sexual study of what happens when an already damaged psyche is left alone, unemployed, afraid and paranoid that something sinister is lurking behind, below and within everything that surrounds her. She and her sister's flat literally transforms from being a "safe space" to morphing into a prison of profound horror.

It is never clearly stated, but there are plenty of hints that Carol has been subjected to sexual assault or abuse. Every man she encounters seems to pose some threat.

And as Catherine Deneuve walks, sits, crawls and hides within her own self-imposed isolation -- we are pulled into her psychologically warped reality. And her reality is one of surreal terror and hallucinatory attacks which form into a full-on mental break. Interestingly, Carol might be the only "safe" person caged within the confines of her personal horror.

This is clearly Roman Polanski's vision, but Gilbert Taylor's exceptionally strange cinematography and Deneuve's almost catatonically-challenged sort of sleepwalking beauty are equally crucial in creating what must be considered a cinematic masterpiece of human horror.

This is an essential film. It should not be missed.