‘Repulsion’ directed by Roman Polanski, 1965 surrounds a Bulgarian woman who starts to lose her sanity due to her fears of intimacy.

At the start of the film we become aware of how mundane and robotic Carol (played by Catherine Deneuve) is as she has moments where she is oblivious to communication and situations occurring around her. This could be an interpretation of how a foreigner feels in an unknown environment, as Carol is living and working in 60’s London.

We start to see her lose parts of herself when she is supposed to cook a rabbit for dinner but forgets, as suggested by EmpireOnline “decay of her mind with the rotting of a rabbit” (Newman, anon). As the rabbit starts to flay and rot so does her reality and forward thinking.

An admirer of Carol, Colin (played by John Fraser), is a decent man and as he begins to come more and more interested in her, the more psychotic episodes Carol starts to have, as elaborated in The Guardian; “her fear of sex develops into a neurotic fascination and horror” (Bradshaw, 2013). We also see this fear when she starts to hallucinate and see male hands piercing through the walls trying to touch and grab her, because her fear is so strong and she lets it control her she starts to lose her mind piece by piece.

Figure 1 - Rotting Rabbit

Figure 2 - Hands through walls

Her insanity hits an all-time high when she reacts violently and kills two men (Colin and the landlord) by beating them with household objects. As Macintyre reiterates; “the killings are vicious and shocking, although Carol's subsequent oblivion to the bodies littering the flat is, if anything, more disturbing” (Macintyre, Anon).

Throughout the film we see repeated sequences from a window of nuns calling for a prayer. Carol is always looking to them as if she yearns for their purity and ‘cleansing’ ways, it is possible that she wants to join them to feel safer amongst a society of ‘sex-crazed men’. Though we are not told why she is ‘damaged’ the last shot of the film is a slow zoom into a family photograph, in which young Carol has the same glassy, nauseous stare at an older man, possibly her father. This could suggest that she was sexually abused by her father (or male family member) hence why she would be afraid of men and intimacy now.

Figure 3 - Family photo

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bradshaw, P, 2013, The Guardian http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jan/03/repulsion-review?commentpage=1 (Accessed on 22/11/13)

Macintyre, E, Anon, http://www.elainemacintyre.net/film_reviews/repulsion.php (Accessed 22/11/13)

Newman, K, Anon, EmpireOnline http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=134914 (Accessed on 22/11/13)

ILLUSTRATIONS

Fig 1 – Rotting Rabbit, (1965), Repulsion, Roman Polanski [Film Still], United Kingdom, Compton Films/Royal Films International, http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_kRuD6zV4Fqs/TTtedeReoZI/AAAAAAAAG7A/ZUEjVg7CGlI/s1600/ishot-2932.jpg

Fig 2 – Hands through walls, (1965), Repulsion, Roman Polanski [Film Still], United Kingdom, Compton Films/Royal Films International, http://veryaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/repulsion_shot-hands-in-walls.jpg

Fig 3 – Family Photo, (1965), Repulsion, Roman Polanski [Film Still], United Kingdom, Compton Films/Royal Films International, http://s3.amazonaws.com/criterion-production/posts/2044-5d1c0e6713202381b41b499aa9890d5a/One_Scene_Repulsion_Still_video_still.jpeg (Accessed 22/11/13)