Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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33 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superb--and Terrifying--Psychological Examination, March 5, 1999
Roman Polanski's first English language film, made three years following the international acclaim for "Knife in the Water" and three years before his American masterpiece "Rosemary's Baby," is a marvelous dissection of paranoia and sexual psychosis amidst contemporary culture, with a phenomenally subtle, moving performance by Catherine Deneuve and camerawork so coldly precise that the horror seems to bloom naturally from the mundane landscape of the film. Deneuve plays Carole Ledoux, a Belgian beautician who lives in London with her frivolous sister. When the sister and her married boyfriend leave to vacation together in Italy, Carole begins to isolate herself in her apartment in a sexual and violent frenzy. The movie becomes more and more subjective as Polanski plunges into Carole's mind and her psychoses, but what's stunning about Polanski's dissection of Carole's consciousness is the way that the director moves so brusquely from an objective perspective into his protagonist's fears without bluntly heralding the transition. We've already become part of Carole's awareness before we realize it. In this sense, "Repulsion" mirrors both Luis Bunuel's "Belle de Jour" and "Un Chien Andalou" in its precise, logical progression that expresses what is in fact illogical. The movie never feels like it's caught up in dream logic whatsoever--it's all starkly real and flat, until the scene reveals itself to be a subjective or illusory perception. This idea that Polanski can thrust us into the mind of his protagonist before we're ever really aware of the fact that we're in a subjective reality becomes more and more frightening as the film progresses, making us complicit in the camera's perspective. Terrifying, too, is Deneuve's ability to make us both afraid of Carole and for her; because Polanski and Deneuve craft Carole as an aggressor who perceives herself as a victim, "Repulsion" forces us (indeed, right into its final frame) to reevaluate our relation to Carole and renders our position as spectators horrifyingly uneasy. Polanski didn't match this kind of expert craftsmanship until 1974 in "Chinatown"--itself one of the two or three greatest films ever made.
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39 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gives cinematic expression to madness, December 15, 2003
The film begins with the shot of an eye (of the actor Catherine Deneuve) beginning with the pupil and slowly moving out, and the film ends with a shot of the same eye, albeit taken from a family snapshot of the protagonist as a young girl, which snapshot has been on display on the sideboard in the flat where the psychological breakdown of, and murders committed by, the character occur. There is a famous eye shot in an early silent film involving Salvador Dali where an eye (of a sheep) is cut by a razor. REPULSION too features eyes and razors in abundance. And it is the accumulation of many such details which reveal Mr Polanski's deep knowledge of cinematic art. For example, the three street musicians, and their music, could have walked straight from a Fellini set. The use of wide-angled lenses and the consequent distortions disturbing to the viewer and the brilliant use of chiascuro, shadows, light used as sculpture, and the long corridors of light and dark suggest German expressionist cinema in the tradition of "Dr Caligari". As well the masterful use of SOUND including that by jazz musician Chico Hamilton is quite powerful. For example, the attack by the protagonist, dressed in her nightgown, slashing at the man with another man's cut-throat razor is given incredible power by the drumming of Mr Hamilton and is an interesting comparison with the screeching violins of Bernard Hermann in the shower scene in Psycho. Or the weird arco bass and shimmering cymbals when the ceiling cracks before her very eyes. Otherwise, ordinary sounds, such as the nearby bells in a convent, dripping tap water, a clock, flies, become a tintinnabulation of horror. Not a film to see alone. Do not watch if having suffered any mental illness however minor. I would call this one of the more telling examples of "total" cinema, by which I mean every element of the film goes towards creating a powerful feeling in the viewer - a premier example of experiencing what the central character herself is experiencing. One of the greatest.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
the definitive psychological horror film, April 18, 2001
Repulsion is the mother of all psychological horror movies.Catherine Deneuve's performance is remarkable.Don't expect "halloween" type scares from this movie.This is about a beautiful young woman who slowly loses her mind after her sister goes away on a trip for a few days.The horror of this movie comes from the cracks on the wall,cracks in the pavement,and a rabbit.So if you are a big "scream" fan this probably isnt for you.I'm also a fan of the "halloween" type horror genre,but i've noticed many other fans of that kind just dont seem to understand what psychological horror movies are all about.Therefore they might find repulsion unwatchable...probably for the same reasons I can watch it over and over.To be simple,if you're looking for cheap scares stay far away from repulsion.But if you want the most amazing psychological horror movie of all time then repulsion is for you.Besides, watching a stunningly beautiful Catherine Deneuve slowly lose it and do some shocking things is pretty easy on the eyes.I rank repulsion as my #1 all time horror movie.
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