Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)


Polanski's first feature after Knife in the Water. 

Carol (Catherine Deneuve) is a manicurist who lives with her sister in a large apartment in London. She has a young fellow pursuing her who she can't get rid of. You'd think he'd show some sensitivity to this since he becomes rather upset by a couple of gay guys showing an interest in him. Carol may have had a fear of sex, but we all have our phobias.

When her sister goes off to Italy for a few days with her wealthy boyfriend, Carol is left alone in the apartment. She misses work and suffers frightening hallucinations. Cracks appear in the walls, she hears footsteps in the hallway at night and worse.

There are a couple of sexual assaults. It's interesting to see London in 1965. The guy trying to get a date with Carol drives a Triumph TR4. Her sister's boyfriend has a Jaguar Mark II. Carol works in a large bustling beauty salon. If Polanski's English had been better, he might have seen a problem with an employee referring to the boss as a "bitch" in front of a customer, but maybe I'm the one who doesn't understand how Londoners talked back then.

The food looked terrible, especially the poor rabbit curled up on a platter.

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