Repulsion
Directed by Roman Polanski
- drama
- thriller
- horror
The story
Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.
What it’s like
Cold, grey London light falls through a cramped flat in long, still takes, with the camera hovering close to Catherine Deneuve's face and the cracked wallpaper, sagging furniture and dripping tap filling the frame. Black-and-white photography, sharp and unglamorous, turns ordinary rooms into a claustrophobic maze, and the sound design does much of the work: ticking clocks, a hum of traffic, a rabbit carcass in the fridge, and a sudden, startling silence where the score would normally swell. Its vibe is airless, creeping dread, the feeling of slowly losing your footing in your own home. It suits a late, solitary night when you want tension that stays in the room rather than erupting. The pace is deliberate and the emotional register is cold and unsettling, following a withdrawn young woman whose isolation curdles into paranoia and breakdown. The intensity is high: there are disturbing sexual threats and implied assault, a brutal murder, and frightening hallucinatory imagery, though the violence is mostly brief and suggested rather than gratuitously shown. This is not a gentle watch. It is for viewers drawn to psychological horror, unsettling character studies, and mid-century European art cinema.
More films like Repulsion
Closest in mood, pacing and theme. Tell us why you loved Repulsion and we’ll explain which ones fit you.
