Repulsion (1965)

Directed by Roman Polanski. Starring Catherine Deneuve, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux, Ian Hendry, Patrick Wymark, Valerie Taylor, James Villiers, Hugh Futcher, Renée Houston.

Polanski’s second feature (and first in the English language) is even more startling than his debut, a claustrophobic psychological horror film of a deeply disturbed young woman (Deneuve) afflicted by schizophrenic visions and nightmares of sexual assault at the hands of predatory men. Left alone in her sister’s London flat for a few days, she recedes into her own troubled psychosis, lashing out at nearly everyone who comes into contact with her (or does she…or do they…?). Brilliant marriage of unsettling and hallucinatory imagery with discordant sound design (including the skittering repetition of Chico Hamilton’s avant garde musical score); delivers a few potent shocks, but succeeds even better at getting under the skin for the long haul, capable of lingering for hours (even days) afterward. Never explicitly states the cause of Deneuve’s severe sexual repression—though much is suggested, including the manifestation of past abuse—and is all the more affecting for that ambiguity. Nothing spoils a descent into madness like deliberate procedure and explanation, after all, and here’s a film that eschews the “safe” outsider perspective by daring to pull the viewer deep into the subject’s fevered, untrustworthy mind. Screen story developed by Polanski and Gérard Brach. First of Polanski’s so-called “Apartment Trilogy”; the others are set in New York City (Rosemary’s Baby) and Paris (The Tenant).

93/100