Repulsion

Repulsion

Category: (DVD)

24 new, starting at $6.50

16 used, starting at $6.34

Buy Now

Editorial Reviews

Left alone when her sister goes on vacation a sexually repressed young beauty goes insane with surreal fantasies of seduction and rape Studio: E1 Entertainment Release Date: 03/08/2005 Starring: Catherine Deneuve

Roman Polanski was still a newcomer to the world of cinema when he unleashed this unforgettable exercise in skin-crawling terror. Repulsion was the Polish director's first film in English, but that hardly mattered: much of the movie is as wordless (and as weird) as the silent Nosferatu. The young Catherine Deneuve plays a Belgian girl stranded in '60s London, a shy beauty with no social skills. When her sister leaves their shared flat, Deneuve goes gradually, quietly, completely mad. Her world becomes Polanski's paintbox, as the devilish director distorts reality via a series of surrealistic touches (grasping hands that protrude from elastic walls) and out-and-out murderous horror. Very few films cast the kind of eerie spell that this 1965 classic achieves, and it clearly points the way toward Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. As with most of the director's work, what is unsettling is not the overt violence, but the terrifying sense of emptiness and isolation, and the boiling unease inside one's own mind. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

the horror ... the horror ...

Reviewed by Arnold Cusmariu, 2010-02-12

Yes, outer beauty can indeed hide inner ugliness. There is bound to be a conflict between the two at some point and, when that happens, it is the inner, twisted soul that will win out with disastrous consequences for anyone who gets too close -- the theme of this chilling and repulsive movie that accounts for its originality. Polanski, being a clever fellow, uses a variety of effective techniques to get the story across, including casting Deneuve as the troubled Carole in the bait-and-switch role of a beautiful beautician gone mad -- paradox and perversity are Polanski's stock-and-trade. One keeps asking not just "how can this be?" but also "how could she have turned out that way?" and maybe also "where's Dr. Phil when you need him?" The middle question is answered in the film's final scene by means of a still photo of Carole as a young girl with a fearful, demented look in her eyes (to indicate she may have been abused by a family member.) In the last shot, the camera closes in on an eye -- allegedly the window to the soul -- at the same time closing the circle, a fitting ending because that is how the film starts. (We should note that the film's disturbing theme hasn't deterred Polanski in the least from chasing after beautiful women all his life.) The DVD I watched comes with commentary by Polanski and Deneuve.

Criterion does it right again.

Reviewed by Michael Gillett, 2010-01-23

Criterion's Blu-ray release is another fine example of how film should look when on video. The film is gorgeous in black and white and quite creepy at times. I highly recommend this disc for anyone who is interested in horror films of the good old days, i.e. before today's 'torture porn' came along. If I had to compare this film to any one other film it's be 'Psycho', where the main character is awkward and violently insane, yet you have an understanding of them. That is of course what makes this film so creepy.
As for the extras, you'll have to get someone else's opinion. They are there, and I'm sure they are good, but I don't buy discs for the extras. As such I haven't watched them.

'Repulsion', into a dark world...

Reviewed by David Wilkins, 2010-01-01

Though rabbit is seldom a featured menu item these days, once you've seen Roman Polanski's 'Repulsion', you're unlikely to think of one without linking it to the other. Polanski explains that every time food appears in his film it is intended to look unappetizing because it's seen through the eyes of Carole (Catherine Deneuve), and Carole is one tortured soul. There isn't a single corner of her mind that's blessed with peace or harmony, and as the story progresses, we're treated to a journey into madness that has few equals in the world of film.

The story is set in then-present-day, 1965 London, where Carole holds down a job as a manicurist at a beauty salon. Her work life, where she's often reprimanded for failing to follow through with average tasks, offers no shelter or security. She lives in a London apartment with her well adjusted, outgoing sister. The contrast serves only to accentuate awkwardness. She's often undone by the ever present boyfriend and the sound of their nightly passion. There's no source or place of solace, but there might be a few days reprieve. Her sister and boyfriend have decided to leave town on holiday. But leaving Carole alone and to her own devices, might be the worst prescription imaginable.

Dialogue can be a wonderful thing when well written and artfully executed, but there's little to compare with a story told primarily through effective images; it takes us back to the birth of motion pictures, when images carried all the weight. And it's here where Polanski's direction, along with the stark and effective black and white cinematography of Gilbert Taylor succeed to a rare degree.

Let's go back to the dinner menu: Rabbit, when skinned and uncooked, takes on the appearance, or at least easy suggestion, of some strange life-form that has been hideously silenced. I couldn't help being reminded of Henry Spencer's inhuman newborn, in David Lynch's 'Eraserhead'.

a shocking film

Reviewed by Ted, 2009-09-19

This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film

Repulsion is a film directed by Roman Polanski and is his first English language film. It is about two sisters from Belgium who are living together in a London apartment. While one goes on vaction, the other decends into schizophrenia and madness. The film is a psychological thriller and was given an X rating in the UK upon its release. It is indeed dusturbing and I recommend it not be shown to children.

Unlike the previous Roman Polanski film released on DVD by the Criterion Collection, Knife in the Water, it is possible to pause this film, and to scan the film forwards and backwards.

The DVD includes a 2003 documentary on the film's production, a 1964 French documentary about the film's production, Audio commentary from 1994 with Roman Polanski and actress Catherine Deneuve, and two theatrical trailers.

Gripping, Riveting, Frightening, Hypnotic!

Reviewed by The Movie Man, 2009-08-27

"Repulsion" is Roman Polanski's disturbing look at a woman (Catherine Deneuve) gradually going mad. Polanski takes us into the mind of Carol Ledoux, a French manicurist working in London. In the streets outside the beauty salon is a world where leering men send her into a panic. In bed each night, she waits, petrified, until her sister (Yvonne Furneaux) and her married lover come home to the apartment next door and engage in their their noisy nocturnal recreation.
When the lovers leave for a holiday in Italy, Carol descends into madness as her sexual repression triggers hallucinations that drive her to murder. Simple objects become dreaded portents, silence is broken by buzzing flies, dripping water, and a ticking clock. Soon, she imagines that someone is in the apartment to rape her. Polanski is adept at using the claustrophobic apartment as breeding ground for Carol's myriad escalating fears and visions. This is the kind of movie that makes you look over your shoulder and make sure the doors are locked.
Polanski would later go on to direct "The Tenant," a movie with a similar theme, and the hugely popular "Rosemary's Baby." "Repulsion" is an atypical horror film, since the terror is all in Carol's mind, and we are witnessing events through a frightened, paranoid woman's eyes. Ms. Deneuve is superb in a chilling role.
Bluray bonus extras include audio commentary featuring Polanski and Ms. Deneuve; the 2003 featurette "A British Horror Film," on the making of "Repulsion;" a 1964 French TV documentary filmed on the set of "Repulsion" showing Polanski and Deneuve at work; and original theatrical trailers. The new print is a high-definition digital transfer, approved by Polanski himself.