Meek, seemingly aloof Carol lives with her older sister Helen in a small London apartment. When she is not near their abode, she works as a manicurist and interacts quite awkwardly with guests of the opposite sex. The day approaches where Helen tells Carol that she will be leaving for a vacation to Italy with her boyfriend, and that she must look after the flat. Soon, the younger sibling begins to crash without the presence of the person who helped keep her together, though one can't help but wonder if some of her newly-found traumatic visions are more seeped in reality than we could ever realize.
As this year's blog-o-thon wraps up, I felt like revisiting some familiar faces would not be the worst way for one to conclude the month. Luckily, I had the option of saying hello again to the controversial, but extremely talented Roman Polanski. Only two of his movies from throughout his filmography have made it onto Unseen Terror, with one ending up as one of my (now) top ten or fifteen favorite horror films. The other, while deeply flawed, was still intriguing enough to warrant a cautious recommendation to those of the more curious mindset. But at the top of my "to watch" list of releases from the French director was his second full-length piece: the simply-titled Repulsion. It's held in an incredibly-high regard by genre aficionados, with many citing main star Catherine Deneuve's performance as one of the most haunting and powerful in its history.
Well, those firmly in the more positive camp certainly were not kidding, as this is a truly great little picture, which when one considers that it was made for a little over $85,000, excels in a large number of areas that even its bigger contemporaries wish they could. Polanski and late, famed cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (Star Wars, The Omen, Dr. Strangelove) set up and shoot Repulsion in a way that can only be described as a perpetual mental breakdown with a main lead who could convince us that we too may be daydreaming, even when the horrible aspects have yet to come to light. After all, when your opening credits serve as an homage to infamous silent short Un Chien Andalou, you know what to expect. The apartment feels like a prison cell in poor Carol's mind, and the very slow descent into (further) madness is executed so well that it's very easy for the audience to feel as unstable as she is. It's one of the best shot depictions of psychiatric illness and utter paranoia that you're likely to see in your life; crawling in its approach and inserting some highly unusual visual tricks into the fold.
I briefly touched on Ms. Deneuve's portrayal as schizophrenic Carol, but it really does bear repeating since she's such a treasure. You feel scared for her wellbeing every time that she appears on screen, and even during the most frenzied of sequences (including a very tense one between her and a landlord), she remains slightly sympathetic. One can't help but want to dive deeper into her mind, and wonder if perhaps she is digging up painful memories that she hoped were covered up forever, or if maybe she's just terrified by ideas that are seldom experienced in her own daily life. Comparing Carol to an extremely fragile piece of art that is constantly swinging back and forth on top of a shaky holding area wouldn't be entirely out of the ordinary. Her costars are no slouches either, with Yvonne Furneaux (La Dolce Vita) and Ian Hendry (the UK's The Avengers) turning in good work as Carol's older sibling and the unwanted lover of her sister. Deneuve has this mentality of human contact being one of the most bizarre, if not terrifying concepts imaginable. The fear of intercourse (and to a lesser extent, loneliness) also plays a huge factor in Repulsion, though going into further details about why would be spoiling a lot about the picture.
Repulsion serves as an acquired taste, but for those who find the psychological horror field to their liking, this is a real treat and arguably one of the best in the field. I've heard that Polanski considers this effort to be one of his more clunky pictures, and while I am still of the belief that he may not be a very good human being, there's no denying his importance to the genre. What little flaws it may have (if any) don't change the fact that it's an essential addition to the very large family tree of horror with many layers that if you are willing to dig through, will only make your respect for it grow larger. If you have some money to throw around, Criterion released a rather nice DVD and Blu-Ray several years ago, which features commentary from the director and Deneuve herself, as well as a plethora of other extras.
But neither of those discs contain any songs from "Horrified." Gotta dock it several points for that.
Tomorrow, we have finally reached the end! What ever shall be the final picture of this year's Unseen Terror? Well, if time is on our side (and I am thankfully off for Halloween), we could actually throw more than a few others into the concluding entry. Either way, stay tuned!
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