Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)
“There’s only one thing they want.”
Plot Summary: A sexually repressed woman (Catherine Deneuve) with a pathological disgust for men slowly descends into homicidal madness.
Review:
One of the creepiest visions of madness ever put on film, Repulsion slowly draws us into the mentally crumbling world of its beautiful but deeply disturbed protagonist, Carol. At first she just seems like a painfully shy young woman who walks with her head down, averts the eyes of strangers, speaks softly, and chews her fingernails. However, her deep-seated revulsion toward men and sex soon begins to manifest itself in bizarre ways, such as when she recoils in disgust from her would-be boyfriend’s sexual advances and frantically wipes her mouth and brushes her teeth after he kisses her. To make matters worse she sees the vulgar and/or morally reprehensible behavior of men everywhere she goes: women at the beauty salon where Carol works constantly complain about their infidelity; ogling construction workers on the streets make crude comments as she passes them; her sister is having a fling with a married man; her would-be suitor persists in making unwanted sexual overtures etc. All these leering, groping males make her flesh crawl, causing her to twitch and wipe at her face and body as if to rid herself of some dread disease transmitted by men.
As Carol steadily descends into madness Polanski ratchets up the tension through a host of creepy images and unnerving sounds. Nobody but Polanski could make dripping water, ticking clocks, buzzing flies, clanging bells, ringing telephones and the distant playing of piano scales seem so disturbing, yet the persistent use of these nerve-racking aural effects, slightly amplified to reflect Carol’s distorted perception, create an atmosphere of unbearable edginess. Even creepier are the expressionistic visual effects - rotting food, cracks in the sidewalks and walls, wide-angle lens distortion effects - which further suggest Carol’s disintegrating mental state.
When her sister goes on vacation Carol’s madness reaches its final, psychotic stage. Now alone and vulnerable Carol fully withdraws from the world, locking herself in her apartment away from the leering eyes and groping hands of men. But even there she can’t escape from them because they’ve invaded every nook and cranny of her twisted mind and haunt her in the form of increasingly threatening hallucinations: a lurking figure suddenly glimpsed in a mirror; groping hands shooting out of the walls; a faceless intruder breaking into her bedroom and raping her - in silent, slow motion, visually distorted horror. No longer able to distinguish between fantasy and reality, these frightening hallucinations ultimately reduce Carol to a state of quivering disorientation, causing her to turn psychotically violent when actual men start turning up at her door.
As if in riposte to the risible cod-Freudian explanation offered in the coda to Psycho, Polanski concludes his Psycho-logical chiller in far subtler fashion. The camera slowly zooms in to an old childhood photo of Carol who’s shown gazing with a mixture of fear and disgust at a man, presumably her father. A picture is worth a thousand reels of psychobabble. The mute photo says nothing but tells us everything: that those imaginary rape scenes from earlier in the film were as much a product of Carol’s memories as her fantasies.
Posted on January 26th, 2008 by Mat Viola
Filed under: Reviews
I appreciate admin’s review and agree with everything except his concluding remark: “an old childhood photo of Carol who’s shown gazing with a mixture of fear and disgust at a man, presumably her father. […] The mute photo says nothing but tells us […] everything: that those imaginary rape scenes from earlier in the film were as much a product of Carol’s memories as her fantasies.” – When I saw the movie in 1965 I noted that the childhood photo could be understood in at least two ways: Either Carol’s disease was CAUSED by some childhood experiences; or else her disease had at an early age had some OUTWARD MANIFESTATION. The 1960s was dominated by psychoanalytic theories, and most spectators (and probably Polanski too) would choose the former interpretation. But already at that time genuine researchers knew that adult diseases are rarely caused by childhood experiences (and least of all the disease portrayed in “Repulsion”).
- During the last 30 years we have instead got a strong predilection for explaining psychic ailments as the consequence of sexual abuse. Admin just repeats what is a favourite theory today (but which would have astonished Polanski) that rape by the father during preschool age was the cause of Carol’s illness.
Max111Sch
Max:
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree that the meaning of the shot in question is ambiguous and that it is open to multiple interpretations (and that’s why it’s so much more effective than the explicit, psychobabble-filled coda to Psycho). However, I don’t think my interpretation merely repeats the prevailing theories of psychic ailments. Although I do think that Polanski is implying that Carol was sexually abused by her father (one of several possible explanations) it doesn’t follow that said abuse was the cause of her adulthood loathing of men. It may well have been the initiating cause, but many other factors over the years no doubt contributed to Carol’s present state of mind (some of which I discuss).
Also, I’m a bit confused by the way you characterize Polanski’s intent behind showing that photo. You say that Polanski would probably interpret the photo to mean that Carol’s “disease” was caused by some childhood experience, but then you claim that he would have been “astonished” by the suggestion that these childhood experiences involved being raped by her father. So, then, what is Polanski implying with the photo? What childhood experiences resulted in Carol’s sexual aversion – her repulsion – to men?
Finally, I’m intrigued to find out what your interpretation is. Obviously, you don’t agree with my theory. If you have a better alternative, I’m all ears.