Repulsion

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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:

polanski's doll.......2007-09-11

catherine deneuve was great in 'Belle du jour'.Here she plays what she is -a classy beautiful woman and the film was sexy too.She seems to be miscast in this film.The woman she plays breaks down into a dis-associated pyscho but apart from looking mournfully beautiful throughout she just doesn't add any other dimensions to the role.Her eyes never look dis-associated- more alarmed and dreamy.So wooden acting.I watched and kept lamenting that the industry no doubt by passes by many talented actresses because they don't have perfect eyes,lips,cheek-bones,nose.Obviously many roles require beautiful actresses-movies are escapism after all-i just wish they weren't cast when beauty not particularly required.It would have been enough for Deneuve's character to have been fragile and abit too vunerable attracting a certain type of predatory man and her paranoias of this.Indeed her boyfriend leans this way-apart from whining and trying to kiss her he doesn't seem to make enough effort to get inside her head:She's a blank slate to foist himself upon.This could have been a great film with a demanding role for an actress with more acting depth and versatilty.But it was't.Dissappointing.

4.5 Why is Carole this way? A photo can say a thousand words, and i believe Carole's family photo explains all........2007-08-01

**Possible Spoilers, but it's my own interpretation**
Catherine Deveneuve plays Carole a lost girl whose eyes are vacant she has trouble relating to people and is repulsed by men. I believe Carole is the walking dead a beautiful lifeless zombie, but what killed her? She works as a manicurist and lives with her sister Helene who cares for her and treats her as if she was much younger. Unfortunately for Carole Helene is going away on vacation with her married lover leaving Carole alone. Soon after Carole stops going to work and barricades herself in her apartment. What happens next is her descent into madness and we are witness to her hallucinations of walls cracking apart and of her being raped. Is this rape a hallucination or perhaps a repressed memory?
The only time we see Carole happy is when a female co worker does an impression of a Charlie Chaplin movie, suddenly there is life in her eyes, it is if Carole is a happy child again before she died inside, as soon as her friend mentions she saw it with her boyfriend a look of disgust takes over and she is once again in her state of misery.
I believe the reason for all of this is explained on the last shot of the movie in a family photo. In this photo we see a young Carole with a look of pure hatred on her face looking at a man that i would assume is her father. I would say this "hallucination" she sees at night raping her in the apartment alone is not a hallucination but a memory of what her father had done to her, he didn't physically kill her but did so on the inside. Perhaps when the co worker is doing her Charlie Chaplin impression it took her back to a time before all that and for a brief moment she is happy.
A lot of Polanski's work is his art imitating his life and vice versa, ironically he does a film in my opinion about the effects rape could do to a young girl, and in 1978 he pleads guilty to sexual intercourse with a thirteen year old girl. In 1969 his wife Sharon Tate is murdered by the Manson family and in 1974 he does Chinatown and has Faye Dunaway's character murdered at the end and the wrong people are alive. Roger Ebert points that out in his review of Chinatown "Certainly the wrong people are alive (and dead) at the end of the film, but I am not sure Polanski was wrong. He made the movie just five years after his wife, Sharon Tate, was one of the victims of the Manson gang, and can be excused for tilting toward despair. If the film had been made 10 years later, the studio might have insisted on an upbeat ending, but it was produced during that brief window when Robert Evans oversaw a series of Paramount's best films, including "The Godfather.""
I am in no way judging Roman Polanski just pointing out what i find to be interesting.
Overall Repulsion is a smart psychological movie with moments of horror and murder, the first hour is slow but it let's us observe Carole and by the end we can feel for her, and appreciate the movie in it's entirety.

**DVD**
Looks horrible, I've seen much better Vhs tapes, but i believe this is the only issue available and for a little over 10$ the movie is still worth it.

VHS-QUALITY DVD.......2007-07-13

This is not a review for the film itself, but the quality of the DVD transfer.

-Hissy, crackly sound
-Flicker-y image
-No special features

Hardly what one would expect from what the case labels "Digitally Remastered."

If you own the VHS or have this film taped off television, you have no need for this DVD. Go buy another Polanski film.

An absolutely brilliant film, deeply disturbing.......2007-07-04

It would not be a good idea to try to psychoanalyze Catherine Deneuve's character in this film. What director Roman Polanski has done is make a composite of a number of disorders and give them to Carole. She is a bit autistic in that she stares at cracks in the ground or at the shape of objects and is basically unsocial. She has a bit of a tic as might be found in say Tourette's syndrome as she rubs the right side of her nose sharply several times when perhaps she is nervous or unsure. She is catatonic at times and violently psychopathic. The repulsion she feels most strongly is toward men. They make her physically ill. She has nightmares and/or delusions or fantasies about being raped. She is reticent to an extreme. I doubt whether such a combination of behaviors actually exists in the DSM-IV, which of course was not yet in print when Polanski made this film.

I was tempted to title this review, "Catherine Deneuve as a slasher: a lesbian thriller," which is accurate to some extent, but it would be unfair to the movie to narrow it so. Carole (Deneuve at 21 or 22) is strikingly appealing despite the weirdly overdone blonde hair, and she is in nightgown for most of the last part of the film. But don't look for any nudity. Polanski concentrates on the horror angle throughout.

But this is a horror movie with artistic power. Instead of the woman alone in her apartment with tinkling music in the background as we wait for the monster who is to rape and murder her, we have Carole alone in her apartment with the madness in her mind and people wanting to get in to show her their love or to collect the overdue rent. Instead of us fearing for her safety, we fear for those who come into contact with her.

Polanski's direction is taunt, focused and filled with tension because we have no idea what is going to happen until the film is over. I liked the touch of having us hear the water drip. Somehow that sound, which we would only hear when everything is quiet and we (or she) are listening intently, heightened the tension and the sense of madness. I also liked the ending with all the neighbors nosily pouring into the apartment.

Deneuve's performance in this English language film set in London is one of her best without any doubt, and she has a very long line of credits. Everything is about her face and her body language. She even walks a bit awkwardly, and her continence is anything but becoming and she seldom smiles. She does laugh once when a coworker tells her about a Charlie Chaplin movie--in fact she laughs uproariously--but Polanski does not give us a frontal shot of her face at that time. Mostly hers is a face filled with fear and apprehension. Her eyes dart about and her lips remain shut. She looks longingly out the window at the nuns and children in the church's playground next door. Perhaps she should have entered a convent. Perhaps, barring what really happens, she might have.

Of course the setup is not perfect. The very fact that Carole could be in her twenties and have gone so long without her symptoms leading to her incarceration is surprising. That she could have kept a job is also surprising. And how such a beautiful girl could have kept the boys and lechers at bay for so long is also a mystery. On the other hand it can be argued that the fact that she is left alone by her sister for a few days combined with the overly earnest advances of an insensitive man brought her to a crisis.

This is a deeply disturbing film done in a sparse and focused manner that will put you and keep you on the edge of your seat until "The End" appears on the screen, which it does.

Repulsion.......2007-06-28

Roman Polanski's first English-language film makes for a potent shocker, as we watch a human psyche unravel, with violent implications. The young Deneuve, only a year after premiering as the picture of innocence in "The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg", is mesmerizing as the demented Carole, a tragic but terrifying creature well past the point of no return. Unsettling, first-rate psychological horror.

Average customer rating:

Why bother about this junk?
Another opinion
Another Viewpoint
Scarily Awesome
garbage!!!!!!!!!!!!

Faces of Death IV
Starring: Faces of Death
Manufacturer: Mpi Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B000060MUA
Release Date: 2002-07-30

Customer Reviews:

Why bother about this junk?.......2007-03-08

Hey,

I saw this so-called Faces of Death IV on VHS many years ago and I just think it is revolting. It is a another disgusting piece of gore-cinema, because 99% of this stuff is handmade, I mean faked, and not even good.
You can not kill a man in a gory cult ritual with a pocket knife, neither you cut so easy off his nose. This whole movie stinks. It is just unbearable boring, just a few scenes are a little entertaining as the magican gets "killed" in a freak fire, head squashing accident (the fake head is great) and the hostage situation where the guy highly exaggerates his acting ability by far.

But anyway it's just a garbage bag, not entertaining, not really scary and not near as good as it's reputation...

File-it-forget it!

jw

Another opinion.......2004-02-26

This film is comprised mostly of footage that is re-enacted or is lifted from TV/Other documentaries. I give it two stars because some of the special effects that are used in the re-enacted footage are pretty cool. Having said that, some of the re-enactments are complette garbage, such as the weeding party massacre - It's the most unrealistic drive-by shooting sequence I have ever seen. Also the sequence that shows that Latino guy being beaten up by cops is so obviously fake -it made me laugh. Oh and the sequence of the schizophrenic man holding the nurse hostage plays like some bad movie - oh wait this is some bad movie.

The Narrator Dr. Lewis Flelis (really some actor dude portraying a doctor - rather badly) is annoying. His commentary of what you are seeing vacilates between poor attempts at ill-advised black humour and ill- informed social commentray. He tries hard to pull spooky faces in between these sequences, but comes across as being more towards prozac dependent than genuinely spooky. I personally liked Francis B Gross from the first three films better, but apparanetly he died.

The special features of the DVD consist of trailers for FOD 1 and FOD 4 (which is just a mish-mash of footage from the film with some music playing in the background) and the cover art for the Gogon video FOD series. In short little of interest on this front.

This films' main selling point is that it has been banned in X number of countries. This is faint praise/ Counties like England and Australia ban anything that isn't about some prancing lord' who falls in love on a ship and freezes to death when it sinks.
If possible rent before you buy.

Another Viewpoint.......2004-02-25

If you are reading this chances are that you have an interest in Mondo films, and if this is the case, you've read volumes about the Faces of Death series already.

This film was refused certification in Australia, making it very hard to find, so I ordered it from Amazon. I saw the original Faces of Death when I was young and I was captivated, this 4th entry in the series is somewhat of a disappointment. A majority of the footage is either (a) re-enacted or (b) stock footage that could be found on other films or stuff you would see on TV. Having said that - the special effects for the re-enatced footage are quite decent and it is for this reason I give this film 2 stars. I found found myself laughing at some of the footage because it was obviously fake, like the girl being run over by the speed boat, or the woman who was attacked by a large leech.

Naturally the new presenter/Narator, Dr. Lewis Flelis is not a real doctor, just an actor overatcing to the extreme. His monologues throughout the various scenes vacilate between poorly informed social comentary and black comedy. He breaks out his guitar at the end of the film to sing a song called "Faces of Death" while footage is displayed of a band stand collapse in which band members are crushed and killed. This song is nothing short of woeful, but you must see it to believe it if you can handle mondo films.I personally liked Francis B. Gross better, but apparantly he died.

This film's main selling point is that it is banned in X amount of countries. Trust me, this is faint praise - as countries like England ban or censor anything that isn't about some prancing fag on a ship who meets his true love and freezes to death at the end.

This film, by comparison to the first three films in the series was a disappointment to me. The links betwen the scenes were far weaker, and it plays like a prozac dependent man trying to scare you with his bad acting and misinformed "medical" opinions.

The extra features are also non existant with two trailers and some cover art for the Gorgon Faces of Death series.

Scarily Awesome.......2004-02-15

This dvd is action packed and very gruesome. It will have you talking about it for days and is an astonishing video. The deaths are vivid and often funny. This is a great party video. I highly reccomend it!!

garbage!!!!!!!!!!!!.......2003-10-22

just like my review title this is garbage it really sucks i thought that these were real scenes of death but it is 110% all fake crap.when i saw it the first time in the year 2000 i could've sworn that it was real but its not it is the most fake crap i've ever watched.if you want real try traces of death or banned from tv.cause i was really disappointed

Roman Polanski 3-DVD Collection (Repulsion / Cul-de-sac / Knife In The Water) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]

Average customer rating:

Roman Polanski 3-DVD Collection (Repulsion / Cul-de-sac / Knife In The Water) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]
Director: Roman Polanski
Manufacturer: MRA
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Product Description

"Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), French (Dolby Digital 2.0), Polish (Dolby Digital 2.0), English (Subtitles), ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN (1.85:1), SYNOPSIS: 3 Classic Movie directed by Roman Polanski: Repulsion: A beautiful but sexually repressed young woman lives with her older sister, but disapproves of her older sister's boyfriend. When the sister and her boyfriend go on vacation, the woman sinks into an apathic condition of depression, which leads to hallucinations and nightmares (are they?) of rape and murder. Knife In the Water: A couple driving along a deserted road to a lake almost run over a young man, a student, who flags down the car almost too closely. The driver is a self absorbed husband, the woman his pretty, irritated wife. They take him along and the husband, out of the sheer patronizing will, invites him to come sailing on their boat. During the boat ride there is clash of personalities. The boy has a habit of playing with a switchable blade knife. The husband is a self-made man and delights in showing up the boy. Their tense interaction builds to a violent climax with unexpected results. Cul-de-Sac: A wounded criminal and his dying partner take refuge at a beachfront castle. The owners of the castle, a meek Englishman and his willful French wife, are initially the unwilling hosts to the criminals. Quickly, however, the relationships between the criminal, the wife, and the Englishman begin to shift in humorous and bizarre fashion. SPECIAL FEATURES: Interactive Menu, "

Average customer rating:

polanski's doll
4.5 Why is Carole this way? A photo can say a thousand words, and i believe Carole's family photo explains all.
VHS-QUALITY DVD
An absolutely brilliant film, deeply disturbing
Repulsion

Repulsion [Region 2]

ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

Thrillers | Mystery & Suspense | Genres | DVD | Video

( R ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B0000AISGO

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

polanski's doll.......2007-09-11

4.5 Why is Carole this way? A photo can say a thousand words, and i believe Carole's family photo explains all........2007-08-01

VHS-QUALITY DVD.......2007-07-13

An absolutely brilliant film, deeply disturbing.......2007-07-04

Repulsion.......2007-06-28

Repulsion [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]

Average customer rating:

Repulsion [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.4 Import - Australia ]
Director: Roman Polanski
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Art House & International | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Foreign & International | Stores | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000FTMUZY

Product Description

Australia released, PAL/Region 4 DVD: it WILL NOT play on standard US DVD player. You need multi-region PAL/NTSC DVD player to view it in USA/Canada. LANGUAGES: English (Dolby Digital 2.0), SYNOPSIS: The first English-language film of director Roman Polanski is a psychological thriller in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and his own later film Rosemary's Baby (1968). Catherine Deneuve stars as Carol Ledoux, a Belgian manicurist living with her sister, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux), in a London flat. Simultaneously attracted and repulsed by sex, Carol is a virgin who finds her sister's relationship with a married man, Michael (Ian Hendry), extremely disturbing. When her sister and Michael go on holiday, Carol begins to disintegrate mentally, hallucinating bizarre encounters, being forced into taking a sabbatical from her job and ultimately committing a pair of murders in her deranged state.

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