Repulsion | Catherine Deneuve, Helen Fraser

Repulsion | Catherine Deneuve, Helen Fraser | Timeless Horror: As Cinematic as a Silent Film. As Modern as a Contemporary Film.

vhs video:

Repulsion

	Repulsion Catherine Deneuve, Helen Fraser ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAMS INC., 2000 average customer review:based on 102 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

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

for more information click here

I liked it

I truly enjoy this film. I heard of it from Cynthia Freeland's book "The Naked and the Undead," a feminist perspective of horror films. Maybe because of this I was more prepared for what to expect. I thought her analysis was intriguing and I sought out the movie because of it.

I think the movie is a great film. Weird, strange, at times disgusting--of course. But I still like it. I also like Rosemary's Baby.

As for the DVD itself. My copy does still have the scratchy/grainy effect of film, but I happen to enjoy that. I also do not have HD, so maybe my taste in technology is lacking.

for more information click here

Timeless Horror: As Cinematic as a Silent Film. As Modern as a Contemporary Film.

"Repulsion" (1965) was Roman Polanski's first English language film and the first of what would retrospectively be thought of as his "apartment trilogy", the other two films being "Rosemary's Baby" (1968) and "The Tenant" (1976). Whatever your neighbors might be up to, it is probably best left undiscovered. "Repulsion" is top-notch psychological horror about a woman's descent into madness within the confines of her apartment, aided by nothing more than her own troubled psyche and everyday creaks and cracks, a ringing telephone, a persistent landlord, and other mundane features of domestic life.

Carole (Catherine Deneuve) is a quiet, distant young Belgian emigree living with her older sister in London, where she works as a manicurist at a day spa. Carole's good looks attract attention, but she wants nothing to do with men, who seem to repulse her. Her sister Helen's (Yvonne Furneaux) obnoxious boyfriend Michael (Ian Hendry) only heightens her distaste for the opposite sex. When Helen and Michael leave on holiday, Carole is left alone in the apartment with her anxieties and fixations, only to be overcome by them.

This familiar set-up paves the way for perhaps the most convincing and subjective horror film I've seen, the horror of a mind unraveling. "Repulsion" was thankfully shot in stark black-and-white. Color would distract from Carole's internal crisis and the subjective view of her environment. Carole's mental isolation is conveyed strongly and consistently, partly through a lack of dialogue, necessitated by Deneuve's poor English. Although the film starts out with an objective perspective on events, at some point we begin to experience the apartment as Carole does. Her disturbed mind is both terrified and terrifying, both victim and perpetrator, and the audience is caught up in it.

"Repulsion" is remarkable on a couple of counts. The idea is so internal that it might seem more suited to literature than to a visual medium. But the film's focus on Carole's behavior, without distraction, followed by its embrace of her experience in the apartment, takes us into Carole's mind enough to fear for her -though not enough to dispel our fear of her. And "Repulsion" is almost completely cinematic. It communicates visually, not verbally. There is no more dialogue than a silent film would have on intertitles. Once we're confined to that apartment with Carole, the shot, not the scene, is the component part through which the story is told, something that has been achieved only rarely since the silent era.

There is a lot of speculation over the origin of Carole's insanity, but my feeling is that this is a genre film with a simple premise -young woman with dread of men stuck in apartment alone- that is essentially self-contained. I think it's probably a mistake to look to events or behavior outside the action of the film for answers. Psychiatrists often think "Repulsion" depicts schizophrenia. Until the end, I thought it meant to imply that Carole's neurotic fear of sex was the cause of her madness. Then I thought that her fear was part and parcel of her madness instead. Pay close attention to the last shot of the film. People's interpretations, or misinterpretations, of Carole's problems tend to be based on that shot.

The DVD (Westlake Entertainment 2007): This is a poor transfer of a poor print. "Repulsion" was shot in 1.85:1 aspect ratio and has been cropped to 1.33:1 for this disc. Furthermore, the print needs cleaning up, as there are a lot of specks. It's watchable, but if you need to buy it, I would look for some of the other OOP DVDs that were made from a restored print. The only bonus feature is a Gallery, which is a slideshow of stills from the film. No subtitles or dubbing.

for more information click here

A masterpiece!

I've seen "Repulsion" quite a few times over the years, and it never gets any less absorbing to watch in spite of knowing the outcome.
Catherine Denueve is incandescently beautiful in it but this all masks her real persona which I guess is shown in the early photograph of her when she was just a child. The rest of her family, involved all together in the event of having their picture taken, but her, aloof, distant, in the background, staring into space, not really wanting to be a part of it. I think this showed a real understanding on the part of the director of the type of personality she had that would later erupt into murderous rage as a result of her paranoia and mental isolation. Sad. Disturbing. And quite possibly one of the most brilliant movies ever made.

for more information click here

Great film, poor DVD

I am only rating this three stars because this particular DVD is of such poor quality. If you have a multi-region player I would recommend buying the region 2 version of this film (available here and on Amazon UK) - I have seen both versions and the picture quality on the region 2 version is far superior. Other than that - Repulsion is a gem. Polanski at his finest. Cannot recommend this movie enough. Agreed on the calls for a Criterion Collection release!

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

products you might be interested in