Today, we watched 'Repulsion', a filmed by Roman Polanski, who seems as disturbing himself as the plot of this film. The plot is based around a French girl living with her sister and her sister's partner in a house in Kensington, London during the sixties. When the girl's sister goes away with her partner on holiday, the girl gradually becomes more psychotic and detatched from the real world by each day, eventually leading her to imagine being raped twice (almost thrice) and murdering two innocent (ish) men. I personally really disliked this film for aspects that other people may think makes it good; the frustration of watching the dim-witted almost-mute main character bumbling around brushing her hair every thirty-seconds. Also, the camera angles were very strange, being very close to the people's faces, rather than showing their surroundings, it felt very claustrophobic.



The house began seeming normal, but the further the film went on, it became strange to the woman, with her hallucinations making the rooms seem hostile, bringing in the aspect of the 'uncanny'.  This film I disliked more than any so far on this course, not only was the plot incredibly slow, but the character didn't fit her surroundings what-so-ever and story was completely vulgar (Not in a good 'The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover' way)


I've read that Roman Polanski was convicted of the rape of a 13-year-old girl as well as his Wife being murdered by the gang led by Charles Manson in the sixties. He fled America to europe before being convicted and cannot return. He most recently directed 'The Pianist' in 2002. He seems like a strange character and judging by 'Repulsion' his films reflect that.

Polanski starred in 'Repulsion' as the spoon player of the small three-man band which features a couple of times playing in the street.