Repulsion is a 1965 British
psychological thriller film directed by
Roman Polanski, based on a scenario by
Gérard Brach and Roman Polanski. It was Polanski's first
English language film, and was shot in
Britain, as such being his second film made outside his native
Poland. The cast includes
Catherine Deneuve,
Ian Hendry,
John Fraser and
Yvonne Furneaux. Polanski himself makes a cameo as a
mandolin player who is part of a trio of street
buskers.
Plot
Carole Ledoux (
Catherine Deneuve) is a young
Belgian manicurist who lives in
Kensington,
London, with her sister Helen (
Yvonne Furneaux). Carol seems shy and interacts with men awkwardly. When Helen leaves on a holiday to
Italy with her married boyfriend, Michael (
Ian Hendry), Carol acts distracted at work,
refuses to leave her apartment, leaves a raw, skinned rabbit out to rot, and sees hallucinations, first of the walls cracking, then reaching out with hands to grab and attack her, and finally of a man breaking in and
raping her.
When Colin (
John Fraser), a would-be suitor whom she has rejected, breaks into the flat, she bludgeons him to death with a candlestick and dumps the body into the overflowing bath. Later, the landlord (
Patrick Wymark) arrives for the late rent. Carol pays him and at first just sits on the sofa, staring into space, as he remarks on the state of the apartment and gives her water to drink. But when he tries to force himself on her, she slashes him to death with a
straight razor.
When Helen returns, she...
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