Repulsion

Repulsion is not an easy film to watch, but after it's over, when you sit in stunned silence, you realize you have been in the presence of greatness. Roman Polanski's 1965 film, a shadowy examination of a woman's descent into madness, has the trappings of a B-horror picture, but is as unnerving as the best psychological thriller I've seen.

The film is shot in glorious black and white by Gilbert Taylor. The shadows of the apartment shared by two French sisters living in London are so brilliantly evoked that it's like glimpsing inside the mind of the younger and meeker sister, Carol (Catherine Deneuve). We don't know much about her, other than that she's a manicurist and is somewhat antisocial and prone to wandering off into her thoughts.

Her sister (Yvonne Furneaux), is keeping time with a married man (Ian Hendry). Deneuve resents his presence, and is disgusted by the sounds of pleasure from her sister's room. She is pursued by a smarmy man (John Fraser), who is flummoxed by her lack of interest, such as standing him up.

When Furneaux goes on vacation with Hendry to Italy, Deneuve starts to really lose it. She goes into fugue states at work, cutting a woman's finger. She is sent home, and doesn't leave her apartment. She imagines the walls cracking, and hallucinates hands molesting her (the most famous scene has dozens of hands emerging from the walls, fondling her). The "repulsion" of the title is her aversion to men, and she lashes out. First she kills Fraser, who breaks into the apartment, by bludgeoning him with a candlestick. Then the landlord comes by for the rent, finding the place in utter disrepair, including a skinned rabbit decaying in the kitchen. He makes advances on her, and she slashes him to death with a razor.

This is all shot magnificently by Polanski, who had to deal with the very strict British Board of Film Censors (it was his first film shot in English). The sense of dread is palpable, both with the use of shadow and light and the pulsing jazz score by Chico Hamilton. Deneuve, who has an admirable career, working with some of the greatest directors in the business, appears at first to have an easy role--most of it is staring into space. But her spasms of violence and other aberrant behavior (such as laughing too loud at the summary of a Chaplin film) really shows a level of excellence. She is one of the most beautiful women to appear in films, but she's no stick figure.

The last shot of the film is a slow zoom on a family photo, finally focusing on Deneuve as a young girl. She is looking, with some consternation, at something out of frame. Is it a man who molested her? Or is she already crazy? Polanski won't explain, and it's good that he doesn't, as it makes everyone's guess correct.

I saw Repulsion years ago in college, and remembered the scenes with the hands but little else. I'm glad I revisited it. I don't think I'll forget it again.