Review of Repulsion (1965) by Mereie D — 31 Jan 2010

Itâ??s great to see how Polanski builds up the tension in this psychological thriller, which at times reminded me of another one of his works, Le locataire (remember the protagonist going insane slowly but surely, displaying increasingly irrational behaviour, for good reasons or perhaps not at all, concluding in disaster with the neighbours standing around looking quasi-concerned).

It is hard to make out which bits are real and which only exist in the warped mind of the main character. Polanski works his way towards Caroleâ??s (Catherine Deneuve) mental instability by introducing some of the repulsive sides of everyday life, like oneâ??s dreary job, little annoyances regarding overactive boyfriends, bossy sisters with creepy fancy men (who leave the traces of their sordid little habits lying about, while acting out their other sordid little habits on the fairer sex, resulting in certain embarrassing nocturnal noises), bully-boy landlords asking for the ever-delayed rent, being pushed into the position of the underdog, etc, etc.

Her psychological collapse is symbolized beautifully by the images of the cracks in the wall and the street (which seem to get bigger) and the decaying rabbit, complete with flies buzzing around it towards the conclusion.

The root of Caroleâ??s problem appears to be sexual, which would also explain her rape fantasies and her final choice of victims. Polanski paid great attention to detail, like the unnerving effect of certain sounds (ringing of bells, phones, bands playing in the streets, fornication sounds in the adjoining room, ticking of clocks or just total silence), the choice of camera shot/angle, use of light and shadow effects, etc.

Not unimportant either are the disarming juvenile beauty and the charming French accent of the leading actress, which helps the viewer to sympathize with her unpleasant situation. The ending was not as surprising as I had perhaps expected, but I did like the detail of the close-up of the eyes, which we could also see in the beginning, suggesting emerging insanity.