Urban Wyrd: A mode not a genre. A sense of otherness within the narrative, experience, image or feeling concerning a densely human-constructed area or the in-between spaces and edge-lands bordering the bucolic and the built -up: Or surrounding modern technology with regard to another energy at play or in control: be it supernatural, spiritual, historical, nostalgic or psychological. Possibly…
Born on this day: the radiant Catherine Deneuve! A watercolor painting I did years ago is now available as a print on Etsy. My favorite films of hers are Belle de Jour&The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Yours?
Starring Catherine Deneuve, Yvonne Furneaux, and John Fraser
Directed by Roman Polanski
Carol Ledoux (Deneuve) is a Belgian immigrant working as a manicurist in London. She is the paragon of wholesome beauty, attracting male attention everywhere she goes. However, Carol seems terrified of every suitor, especially the particularly persistent Colin (Fraser). Carol appears to be on the edge of some psychotic breakdown, and after her sister Helen (Furneaux) leaves for a trip with her boyfriend, she isolates herself further. At one point, Colin shows up at the apartment to make amends with Carol. His visit provokes her psychosis, and she bludgeons him to death. Carol’s mental state deteriorates, creating a disturbing scene for Helen to come home to.
From the beginning, beauty is established as an important theme. In the film’s opening scene, Carol is attending to an older client in the salon. In an attempt to preserve her youthful glow, the client gets a facial. From this first shot on, beauty is proved as both valued and coveted. After all, Carol is a manicurist and is therefore in the business of beauty. Her unmistakable physical beauty masks her unattractive and awkward personality. Interestingly, despite Carol’s dislike for male attention, she does want to be beautiful. She is often looking at and adjusting herself in the mirror. She winces after catching a glimpse of her distorted reflection in a kitchen appliance. Carol also carefully applies makeup before drifting into a catatonic state, illustrating her desire to be attractive. Carol’s cosmetic efforts are difficult to reconcile with her fear of male attention. I believe this confusion is exactly what Polanski (dir) is trying to convey, as it mimics the conflict within Carol’s mind. She wishes to be a functioning, healthy woman, but she is unable to overcome her psychosis, perhaps illustrated best when she willing kisses Colin, only to run away retching.
Repulsion doesn’t portray a single male character in a positive light. Men are depicted as controlling. When Colin finds Carol eating alone in a diner, he rejects what she’s eating and tries to bring her to a restaurant despite her objection. Although Carol is content with her meal, Colin can’t fight his paternalist urge to give her what he perceives as best. Similarly, when Helen puts time into preparing dinner for her household, her boyfriend, Michael, completely overlooks her efforts and insist the two go out to eat. Another vehicle for control is through physical contact, which Carol draws attention to with her strong, negative reactions. The way Michael leaves his toiletries in Carol’s cup is metaphoric for the way he’s seeping into and controlling her life. Men also say things to Carol such as “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do” and “Are you just playing hard to get?” that are dismissive and degrading. Men also take as misogynistic tone when talking about women behind their backs. Colin and his friends discuss virginity and female homosexuality in a way I found particularly demeaning. Aside from her hallucinations, the most obvious instance in which a man attempts to control a woman is when the landlord attempts to rape Carol. There are no redeeming qualities for any male characters, and each one is progressively more misogynistic.
Carol is terrified of and disgusted by sex. Initially, the audience is just lead to believe that male gaze is what troubles Carol. However, we soon learn that her anxieties are rooted in sexuality. When Michael and Helen are having audible sex in the room next door, Carol buries her head in her pillow to block out her sister’s cries. She reacts almost violently to seeing Michael half-naked the next morning and vomits after smelling his shirt in the laundry hamper. After kissing Colin, she runs away so quickly she nearly gets hit by a car. As rabbits are often symbols of sexuality and fertility, the rotting rabbit Carol leaves out throughout the film refers to how her sexuality has gone bad. It is insinuated that Carol may be the victim of prior sexual trauma, most notably hinted at by her rape hallucinations. The photo Polanski zooms in on at the film’s closing of Carol as a child staring angrily at an adult male family member implies that she was abused at the hands of her uncle or father, accounting for her extreme aversion to sexual behavior.
Polanski masterfully illustrates Carol’s deteriorating mental state. At first, the only sign of mental illness is Carol’s apparent narcolepsy, carrying out her daily routine in a sleep-like trance. We begin to see her indulge in behavior indicative of anxiety such as nail biting. The inclusion of occasional sudden, high-pitched string music in the score heightens her impending insanity. Her first hallucination is a man she sees briefly in the mirror. As our reflection is our image of ourselves, this hallucination reveals Carol views herself as a kind of sexual victim. Her hallucinations become more vivid and frequent: cracks on the ceiling, hands in the wall, and finally, rapists intruding her apartment. This is when her desire to inflict harm kicks in. Carol subconsciously cuts a customer with nail clippers. She becomes fascinated with Michael’s razor, which she’ll later use to kill the landlord. Finally, when nobody’s looking, she kills her first victim. Polanski’s focus on the psychological build up to this moment is very well done.
I was very impressed by this movie. I watched it back to back with Hitchcock’s Psycho (as I recommend you should, as well) and was taken aback by how Polanski took hitchcockian innovations to the next level. Colin’s POV murder sequence is particularly visually interesting. I would recommend Repulsionto any fan of old movies, horror flicks, or feminism.
