Repulsion

UPC: 715515047913

Studio: Criterion

MPAA Rating: NR   Contains:[Violence, Adult Situations, Not For Children]

Summary: The first English-language film of director Roman Polanski is a psychological thriller in the vein of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) and his own later film Rosemary's Baby (1968). Catherine Deneuve stars as Carol Ledoux, a Belgian manicurist living with her sister, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux), in a London flat. Simultaneously attracted and repulsed by sex, Carol is a virgin who finds her sister's relationship with a married man, Michael (Ian Hendry), extremely disturbing. When her sister and Michael go on holiday, Carol begins to disintegrate mentally, hallucinating bizarre encounters, being forced into taking a sabbatical from her job and ultimately committing a pair of murders in her deranged state. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

Category: Thriller

Awards: Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize – Berlin International Film Festival

Features: Audio Commentary featuring Polanski and Actress Catherine Deveuve

A British Horror Film (2003), a Documentary on the making of Repulsion, featuring Interviews with Polanski, Producer Gene Gutowski, and Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor

A 1964 French television documentary filmed on the set of Repulsion, with rare footage of Polanski and Deneuve at work

Original Theatrical Trailers

Plus: A Booklet featuring an essay by film scholar and curator Bill Horrigan

Repulsion

Format: DVD

Release Date: 07/28/2009

Aspect Ratio: 1.66:1 Vistavision

Audio: DD1 Dolby Digital Mono

Runtime: 105 Minutes

Sides: 1

Number of Discs: 1

Language(s) English

Region: USA & territories, Canada

Chapters: Disc #1 -- Repulsion
1. Opening Titles [2:17]
2. Fire and Ice [6:18]
3. Helen and Michael [10:57]
4. Next Morning [7:26]
5. Cracks [9:03]
6. Left Alone [6:23]
7. Fear and Aversion [12:02]
8. Trouble at Work [9:14]
9. Visit from Colin [8:44]
10. Hands [5:02]
11. The Landlord [12:18]
12. Busywork [5:23]
13. Return [9:12]
14. End Credits [:44]
1. Color Bars [:00]
1. Maurice Binder [2:17]
2. Daydreaming [6:18]
3. Simple Things [10:57]
4. Despot [7:26]
5. South Kensington [9:03]
6. Inside Herself [6:23]
7. A Horrific Element [12:02]
8. Sound and Atmosphere [9:14]
9. The Score [8:44]
10. Violence [5:02]
11. Critical Moments [12:18]
12. Mental Limping [5:23]
13. Surrealists [9:12]
14. The Eye [:44]

Mark Deming

Roman Polanski's terror classic shows us, in simple but effective terms, the horrors that lurk inside a troubled psyche. While obviously working on a shoestring budget, Polanski recreates with disturbing impact the strange and unsettling horror of a mind that has begun to turn upon itself. Carol Ledoux (played brilliantly by Catherine Deneuve) is not on a strong emotional footing as the story begins: she's at once compelled by and terrified of her sexual needs, and she displays an unhappy emotional distance from others that suggests a mild form of autism. When Carol is left alone after her sister leaves on vacation, her fragile connection with the rest of the world gives way, and. as she isolates herself in her apartment, Carol's mind fragments into a hallucinatory state, which Polanski manifests on-screen with an apt surrealism. Within the increasingly grim and shadowy confines of the flat, revolting images of rotting food and buzzing flies mingle with things that shouldn't or couldn't actually be there, and Polanski's impressionistic use of odd angles, visual distortion, and blunt, shocking violence make Carol's world seem as frighteningly alien to us as it must be to her. Polanski is aided immeasurably by Deneuve's performance; she's the only person onscreen for a large percentage of the movie, and the understated realism of her madness makes the film all the more convincing, demonstrating that the human mind can conjure images far more terrifying than can a special effects crew with a huge budget. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Cast and Crew: Mike Pratt  Actor 
Roman Polanski  Actor 
Gérard Brach  Screenwriter 
Gene Gutowski  Producer 
Chico Hamilton  Composer (Music Score) 
Roman Polanski  Director 
Roman Polanski  Screenwriter 
David Stone  Screenwriter 
Catherine Deneuve  Actor 
Ian Hendry  Actor 
John Fraser  Actor 
Patrick Wymark  Actor 
Yvonne Furneaux  Actor 
Renee Houston  Actor 
Helen Fraser  Actor 
Valerie Taylor  Actor 
James Villiers  Actor 
Hugh Futcher  Actor 
Monica Merlin  Actor 
Imogen Graham  Actor 

Country: UK