Composite Score: 85.1

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux, Patrick Wymark, Renee Houston, Valerie Taylor, James Villiers, Helen Fraser, and Hugh Futcher

Director: Roman Polanski

Writers: Roman Polanski and Gérard Brach

Genres: Drama, Horror, Thriller

MPAA Rating: Not Rated

Box Office: $33,174 worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Repulsion is Roman Polanski’s psychological horror film about a woman whose fear of men devolves into something bordering on a schizophrenic episode. The film stars Catherine Deneuve as its troubled leading lady, Carol, supported by Yvonne Furneaux as her more permissive sister Helen, Ian Hendry as Helen’s married boyfriend Michael, and John Fraser as Colin, a man in love with Carol. In addition to receiving a BAFTA nomination for its creative black and white cinematography, the film has been celebrated for its gripping storytelling, the sense of terror that it invokes, and the atmospheric bewilderment that it instills in its audience.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                Roman Polanski is a convicted pedophile, so let’s write that down, but that actually has very little to do with this film; I just thought it better to mention while we’re marking down cons for the film. The real issue with Repulsion comes in its subject matter. (I’m not actually talking about hallucinating being sexually assaulted; though there’s some ethical dilemmas there as well.) In a modern context, it feels like this film falls into a common issue of horror films for time immemorial, that is, making the “other” into a monster and/or killer. In this case, the “other” in the film is French accented, “sex-repulsed” (probably asexual if that had been a recognized moniker back then), young woman whose “abnormalities” become psychoses that lead to her becoming a crazed killer. It’s a classic trope that never becomes any less problematic, no matter who ends up being the particular film’s other. In this case, the “other” takes the form of someone who still often gets flak from certain facets of society – a person whose sexuality does not conform to the “societal norm”, which gets problematically explained away as a symptom of some form of psychological issue, most likely schizophrenia. It’s not a good thing to otherize anyone, but it’s especially problematic to make them out to be something to be feared. Perhaps that was Polanski’s goal in making Carol the film’s protagonist, to garner some sympathy/empathy from the audience, but given her ending and the portrayal of her actions, it becomes difficult to separate the victim from the crimes that she perpetrated.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                If you want to talk about examples of great atmospheric, psychological horror films, Repulsion belongs right in the middle of that conversation. While its premise and director might fall on the more problematic end of the horror spectrum, its execution lands it in a conversation with the greatest horror films of all time. Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (Star Wars, Dr. Strangelove, and A Hard Day’s Night) delivers a masterclass of eerie shots that make even the most mundane pieces of reality (cracks in concrete, rotary telephones, and the hallway to the bathroom, for example) feel otherworldly and threatening, inviting the audience into the sense of fear and menace that Carol feels at all times. These shots and others achieve that end of getting the audience to root for Carol in the early goings of the film until they realize that the victim is becoming the perpetrator as a result of the isolation that she has foisted on herself. It’s a brilliant example of the camera winning the audience over and playing them right into the hands of the film’s twists and turns.

                Gilbert Taylor’s frightening framing of Carol’s descent into psychosis helps Repulsion instill a sense of unease and dread in the audience even as they find themselves rooting for the increasingly unhinged heroine, a sign of an excellent horror film if I’ve ever seen one. The film’s decision to rely on the problematic “othering” tropes of its genre holds it back from being an unimpeachably great film, but it looks great and certainly accomplishes its goals well by the time all is said and done. It can be watched free with ads currently on Plex and Crackle or can be rented without ads on most other streaming services for those looking to check it out.