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“A must-see! Works brilliantly as a vision of modern life at its most violently alienated.” “A psychological horror classic! Deneuve is frighteningly realistic!” “A grotesque weave of Freudian nightmare. Skin-crawling!” “Rejoice, because a definitive new print is at hand. |
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(1965) When her sister and her sleazy boyfriend leave repressed Belgian ex-pat manicurist Catherine Deneuve alone in their London apartment, strange things start to happen. Barricading herself indoors after an abusive phone call, she catches someone’s reflection in a mirrored door — then the walls tear open, grabbing hands reach through them, and flies gather in the wake of her would-be boyfriend and buttinsky landlord’s unwanted intrusions. Polanski’s horror classic — and first English-language picture — is that rarity: a portrait of the growth of insanity from inside, sans long-winded Freudian explanations. Deneuve, straight from the slightly more cheerful The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, is blood-curdlingly believable as the repelled-by-sex heroine, the projection of her nightmares onto the white walls of her lair a brilliant metaphor for cinema itself. With a subtly unsettling Chico Hamilton jazz score, stark b&w cinematography by Gilbert Taylor (Dr. Strangelove, A Hard Day’s Night, Star Wars, etc., etc.) and a wordless
final shot guaranteed to haunt, Repulsion is an all-too-little seen “masterpiece, with something repulsive for
everyone” (David Shipman). This 35mm restoration from Sony Pictures, supervised by Grover Crisp, was made directly from the original camera negative and features a new, digitally-restored soundtrack. “Gets scarier after you leave the theater and discover how much it’s gotten under your skin.” – Amy Taubin, The Village Voice. “A chic, creepy thriller. The ultimate in arthouse Grand Guignol.” – J. Hoberman, The Village Voice. Available at concession and online: |
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