Repulsion - BD
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Page 1 of 3 THE SCARIEST MOVIE OF 1965 IS NOW ONE OF THE BEST BLU-RAY DISCS 0F 2009
My brother and I checked out a screening of Rosemary's Baby in Seattle late last year, and in addition to it blowing both of our minds, I remember chuckling in freaked-out glee after the film ended and my brother saying that the film was nothing short of totally effective birth control. He was joking, but boy, when you watch Rosemary's Baby, the Hell those characters are forced into because of their particularly Satanic visit from the stork really makes you think twice about procreating (at least until the movie's over). Repulsion operates on pretty much the same level as Rosemary's Baby, but while the film doesn't have Rosemary's pervasive sense of looming danger, this picture about a woman who goes quietly and distinctly insane over the course of 100 minutes is such an astute investigation of the darkness within the human person that it goes far beyond scary: It's terrifying. The film revolves around Carol (Catherine Deneuve), a keeps-to-herself young woman who works as a manicurist in a London salon. Things are all fine and good until Carol's sister and flat-mate (Yvonne Furneaux) gets a beau (Ian Hendry), and Carol starts to detest having this guy around. Carol has a beau of her own, to boot, but John (James Villiers) doesn't really float her boat. But when Carol's sister and her beau decide to go away on holiday for a while, things start to get...bad. Carol begins having rape visions in her dreams that trigger a devout personality switch inside her: She goes a little nuts. And God help the landlord of her apartment building and even her boyfriend from what this madness does to her. Repulsion succeeds the way most Polanski films succeed - it works on both surface and deeper levels. On one hand, Repulsion is extraordinary popcorn entertainment - the film offers enough scream-out-loud scares as it does creepy, squeamish emotional moments. Yet if one pays enough attention to it, Repulsion is not just frightening in a cinematic capacity. The lack of explanation as to the root of Carol's madness is somewhat addressed by a scary-as-Hell photograph that provides the film's final image, but even then, things are only addressed obliquely. What really gets under the skin is Polanski's concept that Carol's madness and descent into a murderous rampage aren't necessarily things that only 'crazy people' deal with - Carol is such a benign, classic character that we're left with the chilling hypothesis that her brand of lunacy really could befall any of us. |
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