Sunday, August 30, 2009

Polanski's "Repulsion"


There are movies that are worth revisiting. Roman Polanki's "Repulsion" is one of them. I guess because it is so unusual. A low budget horrror movie that was sold as a "Psycho" knockoff but that ended up being so much more. Whereas "Psycho" has become a kind of campy movie, a cool movie with a gimmick, "Repulsion" still works. Maybe because the mental illness portrayed in the movie is so real. And having gone through an anxiety disorder a couple of years ago. now it even feels more so.
What is amazing about the movie is how her condition is portrayed by using little twitches and reactions. It is never "here's the loonie" approach of "The Shining". It instead, anad Polanski says talks bout it in a documentary included in the DVD, shows that a person with that illness has various states, some in which the condition is more apparent and some in which the person looks completely normal. And it is amazing how well Catherine Denueve portrays this. It is a nuanced, extraordinary performance. And a brilliant achievement by Polanski.

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