Repulsion review.
The story starts off in England where a beautiful women
named Carol, who shares the apartment with her older sister and her husband.
Carol works as a manicurist at a beauty salon where she spends most of her time
daydreaming and stays silent. She ends up meeting a young man called Colin, who
begins to obsess over her really quickly, which makes her feels uncomfortable.
At that point Carol’s older sister and her husband leave on a trip to Italy,
which means that Carol is left alone in the apartment where she now seclude
herself from everyone else. She slowly becomes insane, seeing things that are
not there and constantly have nightmares. Colin worries about her and barrages
though the front door only to make her panic and killing the young man. She
improves about what to do with the body so she tosses the corps in the bath
filled with water and at that point the landlord also broke in the apartment to
take his rent from Carol. Because she is young and beautiful the landlord offers
her to keep the money in exchange for the use of her body. She refuses and
kills him then hides his body under the sofa. She stays indoors continuously
having nightmares and seeing visions until her sister and husband arrives back
home from their holiday. They arrive only to see their apartment destroyed and
continued to look for Carol but only to find a dead corps in the bath. The
older sister panicked at the horrific sight and screamed, which caused everyone
in the other apartments to arrive to see the commotion. They all witness
everything and tried to call the police until she is found however the older
sister found Carol under her bed passed out. The husband picks her up and takes
her out of the building.
The film does brilliantly making you feel agitated and
uneasy by having scenes dragged out full of suspense. The film does make you ask
yourself questions like “Is the scene where she is being used for sexual
purpose against her will a dream or reality?” or “Why is all of this happening
in the first place?” which can draw you into the film, however it can lead to
the bad points of the general movie where nothing is answered and their for the
audience might be frustrated but it seems as this film answered your questions
but in a subtle way by not directly telling you them. The film is also in black
and white which is used effectively as the shadows are darker and it can be
difficult to see the visuals and there for it drags the audience’s eyes closer
to the screen by forcing you to pay attention. Some scenes are done brilliantly
by having the sound quite down and it takes its time by creating suspension and
questioning what is happening. The
camera angles have been used effectively though out this movie by having it pan
slowly to reveal something or nothing or shown close up of their character’s
face, which shows a great deal of their emotions. Lastly the film main settings
is in the apartment where we see it goes though changes by having the rooms
bigger or smaller, cracks appear of the walls which makes it look like her
world is crumbling apart and that the arms appearing out the wall can symbolize
the men that are trying to use her for their sexual purpose.
The bad points of the film is hard to analyze. Almost
everything in this movie is perfect, however that been said Carol could have
been interesting but instead she was dull and dreary at the very beginning.
There is a tiny change between what she was like at the beginning and when she
was kissed by Colin but it could have been used effectively if she had a
different personality. For example: she could have been a happily, talkative,
out-going young women but then after Colin’s kiss it could have brought back the
nightmares of when she was young, which ultimately unlocks her deep parts of
her subconscious memories. That can cause her pain and a complete change in her
personality where everyone will notice and send her off to the apartment
thinking she is unwell. In the movie she is the same then as she was at the
beginning however if it wasn’t for the scenario or the visuals of the story no
one would be able to tell what’s going on and completely agree with Colin with
his reactions whatever her actions are.
Overall this movie gets a 9.2/10. It’s a fantastic movie,
worth watching and leaves you thinking at the end. I question would the film be
better if it was in colour and the more I think about it I think the answer
should be NO! The black and white makes it feel darker and harder to see than
every than any other horror genre movies. It deserves to be recognized as a
great a suspenseful film. The story, settings are done really well and the no
audio or soundtracks that’s been used throughout the scenes are used
effectively. Characters could have been interesting however with all of the great
points it feels as though that this issue can be ignored or it’s unnoticeable however they did make Carol look helpless by making her look like an "angel" by having shinny white (blonde) hair with white clothes which can symbolize purity and because it's a loose clothing it can show how weak and helpless she is and it makes the audience want to protect her.
It’s actually worth watching and interesting to hear many other’s opinions on
this movie.
