
The opening shot of Repulsion is a close up of the main character's eyes. They're shifting and jump cuts are being employed to tell the viewer that something is not quite right. The eyes belong to Carole who is played by the stunning Catherine Deneuve. The viewer gets a subjective view through these eyes but because it's a slow descension into insanity the protagonist is unreliable at best. There isn't much explanation for why the events are happening so all you can do is look on in horror at what unfolds in front of you.
The predominant issue that contributes to Carole's descent into psychosis is her fear of men and sex. We only get hints as to why this is. Whether it be the disgust she shows towards her sister's married boyfriend or her avoidance of a sincere suitor. She is sexually repressed but also repulsed by the thought of sex. It seems her only sexual experience(s) was traumatic and has informed her perspective of it. The past not only informs who we are in general, but who we are sexually.

Throughout the film there are constant noises, whether it be a ticking clock, the church bell across the street or a piano being played in the building. When she walks to work, she has to deal with whizzing cars and busy sidewalks. It doesn't help that she can hear her sister having sex in the next room at night. The only moments in the film of silence are of nightmarish hallucinations she suffers. They are truly horrifying and don't reduce her repulsion towards men.
After her sister goes on vacation, Carole starts to crack. She barricades herself in her apartment to keep the outside world from coming in. Her apartment becomes a major character. The rooms become distorted and she starts to crack up as do the walls that surround her. This begins the spiral of insanity.

Repulsion wouldn't be the film it is without Catherine Deneuve. She is cast as a shy beauty who is masking a lot of problems. Her beauty is so sensational that the people around her don't notice that anything is wrong with her. They only see her at face value — they don't know her repressive nature. It is not often in a film where you see a woman's beauty being used to add depth to her character. Deneuve would revisit sexual repression, though in a very different manner, in the impressive film Belle De Jour.
Repulsion influenced many that came after it, including Eraserhead. Both films have similar dreary interiors, sharp black and white photography and include rotting as symbolism. Roman Polanski's direction in Repulsion is pitch perfect and he hits every note just right. The interior lighting is exceptionally used to show the mental state Carole is in. The segues are some of the best I've seen and the slow build up throughout is intense. He uses the same subjective storytelling that he would perfect in his masterpiece Chinatown. This is both psychological thriller and horror at it's best.

Horror is an inconsistent genre filled with loud music to scare the audience, cliches and corny stories. Most don't have the patience to build suspense nor give you characters to empathize with. They show gruesome imagery without any context or meaning behind it. They're throw away movies that are forgotten after their opening weekend, until the sequel comes out. If filmmakers in the horror genre would watch this film(and others like it)and allow it's influence into their work, the world would be a better place and a less repulsive one at that.
