Repulsion Review by Erik Haley

Predating Rosemary's Baby by three years, Roman Polanski's Repulsion is one of the quintessential horror films of the 60s. Shot in black and white, the film still manages to combine disturbing images with a sound track to disturb the audience. Besides the horror aspect of the work, the film also provides an analysis of the sexual revolution in Britain in the 60s.In addition, the film has an interesting analysis of the idea of claustrophobia and isolation; the same themes showed up later in Rosemary’s Baby. The film, while it may seem dated today, is easily some of Polanski’s scariest work.

The plot seems fairly straightforward on first glance. Carole Ledoux is living in London in the 1960s, where the sexual revolution is in full swing. She lives with her sister, who enjoys the sexual freedom of the times. Carole, however, is extremely timid and refuses to take part in any event. Even Colin, a gentleman who wants to have a serious relationship, repulses her to a degree. When her sister leaves for a vacation to hang out with her boyfriend, however, Carole slowly falls apart. Her fears overwhelm her and she slowly falls into madness. The ending of the movie is bleak and Polanski does not pull any punches. WARNING: SPOILERS (Completely mad, she kills Colin when he tries to check and see if she is ok, fearing he may try to rape her. When her sister comes back, she is almost catatonic and is taken to a mental hospital; there is little hope that she will recover.) Only at the end of the film to we get even the slightest hint into what was the catalyst for Carole’s madness. It’s not pretty.

The true genius of the movie is that the horror is the slow descent into madness. There are plenty of hints and symbols to show her gradually losing her mind; the most famous example in the film is the rabbit that was left out and never cooked. Also, her hallucinations grow worse over time; while she first imagines cracks on the walls, she later has visions where arms emerge from the wall in an attempt to rape her in what may be the film’s most famous sequence. WARNING: SPOILERS Another well done sequence is when she kills Colin with a candlestick. The ferocity in her eyes is not acting in this scene. To get her sufficiently angry enough, Polanski forced her to redo the scene dozens of times until her anger at Polanski was channeled into the scene. Carole’s hatred for Colin is really Catherine’s anger at Polanski.

Of course, Catherine Denevue deserves a lot of praise. She is completely believable as the timid Carole slowly going mad. She pulls off the mad, violent Carole just as well as the shy Carole; not an easy thing to do. However, despite the horrible things she does after she loses her mind, the audience still remains sympathetic with her. Catherine is able to show Carole more as a frightened child than a crazy killer. The other cast members play their parts well but to be honest they seem more like side characters. The movie is really Catherine’s show.

Repulsion is a horror film without monsters, satanic rituals or mass murdering psychopaths. It is a film about how one week alone can be enough to drive someone insane. And it works spectacularly.