Roman
Polanski wasted no time moving out of the more repressive artistic environment
of Iron Curtain Poland after the success of his first feature film (Knife in the Water, 1962—released in the
West in ’63).The director went to the
U.K., where he made his first English language picture, the 1965 classic horror
film Repulsion.It is surely one of the creepiest—if not the
scariest—movies ever made.A young
Catherine Deneuve stars as a mentally disturbed woman staying alone in her
sister’s apartment for the weekend.Needless to say, her imagination runs loose and gets the better of her.Before long, she’s murdering anyone who comes
to the door and dumping bodies in the bathtub.
Ultimately,
the subtext here is sexual child abuse.It’s not blatant, but the clues are there—Deneuve’s character is frigid,
shrinks away from any thought of sex or even intimacy with the man who is
supposed to be her boyfriend, and hallucinates being assaulted by a shadowy
older man who seems to invade her bedroom from a secret door in the wall.When released in 1965, the UK slammed it with
an “X†certificate. The U.S. ad campaign warned that the film was strictly for
mature audiences.They were correct in
doing so…this is heavy, scary stuff.Harrowing and frightening, Repulsion
established Polanski as a visionary director of the macabre; it’s easily
one of his best pictures.Some films
merely scare you—this one haunts you for a long time after viewing it.
Repulsion has been released by dubious studios
over the years on VHS and DVD, and none of these earlier editions are much
good.The video quality has always been
sub-par and the audio no better.The red
carpet label Criterion Collection finally acquired the rights and restored the
film to a crisp, clear, and magnificent high definition black and white
splendor (approved by Polanski)—it’s as if you’re seeing the picture for the
first time (it’s a must-purchase item for this reason alone).Additionally, the audio no longer sounds
muddy as it did on previous releases.In
short, Criterion’s new edition is near-perfect.Extras include a commentary by Polanski and Deneuve; a documentary on
the making of the film featuring interviews with the director and others; a
vintage documentary from 1964 on the set of the film; original theatrical
trailers; and a multi-page booklet.
Available
in both DVD and Blu-Ray.Highly
recommended!
.
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