Repulsion review. (1965)

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.