Roman Polanski is another visionary director in the cannon of all-time greats. Putting aside his legal issues, the man is a pure cinematic genius. ROSEMARY’S BABY, CHINATOWN, and THE PIANIST are among the best of the best. I’ve always wanted to watch this film, and I actually had it checked out of the library several times, but never got around to watching it. Finally I set aside some time to watch it, and going in I was very excited, because of the direction and the premise/impact I know the film has from reading about it and from word-of-mouth.
The story is a young woman who obviously has issues is left home alone for several days while her roommate goes on holiday. During these days alone she begins to slip into a bad psychological state of paranoia. From the opening shots of REPULSION the audience is extremely tormented and uneased, as we stare inescapably at a female’s eye that shifts back and forth, covering the entire frame as the opening credits roll. The rest of the film is a slow build-up towards our main character leaping into pure insanity. Her apartment begins to fall apart around her, she plagued with sightings of a man who she believes wants to rape her, and the extreme hallucinations she starts having.
The film is beautifully shot and all the camera techniques utilized add value to the overall goal of the film. That goal is to make the viewers as uncomfortable and paranoid as our main character. And it does achieve this more and more as the film progresses. I love the silence used during the hallucination scene where she is raped. It conveys that she is a truly helpless victim without a voice. It’s scary how well that technique worked.
The only “beef” I would have with this film is the consistent shock technique they used when something startling happens. They cue this high pitched music for about 5 seconds and it starts to become tedious and slightly annoying, rather than an element to add to the frightfulness of what we’ve just seen or are seeing. Not as good as DIABOLIQUE, but definitely a solid film that purposes to drive it’s viewers crazy. And it is nice to not have to deal with the subtitles for once while watching a French film.
The persistent fear of man and his over-dominance against women in the main characters eyes becomes a bit taxing, but her emotions are supposed to be anything but rational. So it works even though it’s a bit trite from time to time. The straight razor kill is unnerving. Watching it and thinking about those precise cuts makes me squirm every time.
Rating: 7.5/10
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