This review will look at the way the male gaze and voyeurism is shown through

the film Repulsion (1965) and how the director Roman Polanski presents the
male gaze with the character of Carole, and through that gives the male
audience a voyeuristic experience. The review will be supported for the male
gaze aspect by Mike Hibbert “Psychoanalysis in Film: Freud, Lacan, Mulvey
and the Male Gaze” and how Polanski’s own male influence translates into the
film, while the voyeuristic argument by Rachael Sampson “Film Theory 101 –
Laura Mulvey: The Male Gaze Theory” and how the audience would
experience voyeurism through the film.

Laura Mulvey is arguably a strong angle of which to analyse voyeurism, the

practice of gaining pleasure form seeing others in either distress or engaged in
sexual activities, and the male gaze, the act of depicting a woman within
various mediums through the lens of a heterosexual man in relation to film,
particularly Roman Polanski’s Repulsion (1965). Firstly, the film itself is directed
by a man, Roman Polanski but is centred around a young woman Carole and Fig 1, Repulsion (1965)
her psychological break down within the claustrophobic constrains of the London
flat she shares with her sister, this ties into the aspect of the male gaze as,
“Mulvey defines women’s role in film as ‘a source of anxiety …to be investigated, punished and
forgiven, or she is to be ‘idealised and fetishised’, which in both cases is a distraction” (Hibbert,
2016) this is shown within the film, as Polanski displays her as a vulnerable figure, both within the
stalker like camera work the film uses to track Carole across the it, but also through her
demeanour. Carole is very shy and arguably passive towards the figures in her life, particularly the
men, of which in the frame of the male gaze can be seen as Polanski's way of viewing women
through her coy mannerisms and impractical clothes, while within the theory of voyeurism, he
projects his ideals onto the audience, whom if they are also heterosexual males, will experience
pleasure through her un-realistic, passive mannerisms and idealistic
outfits that she displays within the film, Polanski’s projection of his
idealised women, creates a voyeuristic experience for the audience,
especially though the films more sexual undertones, despite the main
theme of the film being rape and Carole's androphobia (a pathological
fear of interaction with men). This can also be argued against Polanski’s
male gaze, as the main subtext of the film; Carole’s androphobia is
played throughout the film, and itself hints at a more dark undertone for
the film then a more pleasurable one of the audience, but on the other
hand, the actions and the outfits are in a way fanatical, with Polanski
choosing to place Carole in various outfits, such as her thin night-gown
and mini skirts that shown off desirable aspects of her body to a male
heterosexual audience.

Fig 2, Bella de día y de noche,

Catherine Deneuve, (2012)
Alternately, the films camera direction also plays into these themes, as its
frames and presents Carole in an arguably very desirable way, framing
attractive aspects of her body like her bare legs or close up shots of her face to accentuate how
attractive she is, both by Polanski and to the audience, as well as using wide shots to frame her
when male characters such as her boyfriend Colin are looking at parts of her body, adding to the
voyeuristic experience for the audience, as they experience the attributes Colin is seeing, while
unconsciously living vicariously through him as the film presents Carole’s expressions and
emotions to the camera, as if it were a person. The male gaze aspect comes into the way the
reason why it accentuates her features; “Typical examples of the
male gaze include medium close-up shots that pan and fixate
on a woman’s body, and scenes that frequently occur which
show a man actively observing a passive woman.” (Sampson,
2015) they don’t add anything to the plot of the film, but serve
to show off Carole’s figure to the audience in small ways, such
as by using a medium shot to place Colins wondering eye with
the area he is looking at, this also shows what Polanski would
find attractive, as it would take his heterosexual attraction of
her to decide to focus on those aspects and use them to
portray to the audience that Colin finds Carole attractive,

Figure 3, Repulsion at Catherine Deneuve and

Roman Polanski, (2018)
 The films style of framing plays a heavy part in both the voyeurism and the male gaze, as its
placed within a point of view aspect, each shot is placed in a position where a person would or
could see, which enhances the experiences of the viewer, as it paced them more realistically
within the context of the film, a good example of this is where the camera follows Carole from her
way from work to home, keeping behind her at all times, as Polanski might see a woman or how
the audience member could use to vicariously place themselves within the film, imaging that they
too are walking behind Carole as she makes her way home, the camera is this scene is arguably
placed to make the viewer feel as if they are following Carole and enhance them within the frame,
while Polanski subtly concentrated the frame on her hair, and on the lower half of her body,
making it feel realistic to the audience, and implement objectified aspects of her figure.

Furthermore the film also accentuates this with framing by its subtle
concentration on hands, the aspect of hands plays a major theme for
Repulsion, is it visually represents Carole’s androphobia to the
audience, and helps to build up the more disturbing effects of the
film, as Polanski displays hand placements to Carole’s body that
slowly manifest themselves within her breakdown as they begin to
emerge from the walls and the shadows. The usage of the hands
plays into the theme of the film, the intentions plays into another
aspects that “they (the director) believe that they are giving the public
what they want, when that isn’t necessarily true. They are giving
audiences what a proportion of males want, and what the rest of
society has been brainwashed to accept.” (Sampson, 2015) as the
Fig 4, Catherine Deneuve Poster, (unknown) placement can be argued to support the male gaze, as characters like
Colin and the landlord are shown to touch or hold desirable aspects
of her body, such as her hips and face, that gives the camera a reason
to concentrate and objectify those features further, while voyeurism is portrayed through the hips
and face being related to the characters desires to sleep with Carole, allowing the audience to
experience that desire vicariously as well. The placement of the hands serves to further the story
and show hidden, psychological themes of Carole's mind, but the placements help to further the
objectification of women, as the pay off in the hallways with the hands reaching off to Carole,
display to the audience that the hands within the film were intentional, however they didn’t need
to be placed across her hips or face, Polanski chose to show them there objectifying her in the
process to the audience.

Overall, Polanski uses the camera, angels and shots to show Carole in different, subtle desire
ways that would arguably fit within the context of the film, but also serve to objectify the character
of Carole with her outfits, the concentration on features of her body and the stalker like approach
to the filming, of which makes the film feel more immersive but also serves to make the film more
voyeuristic and show how Polanski sees women. 

 Illustrative Bibliography

Figure 1, Repulsion, (1965), [Film Poster], https://

www.imdb.com/title/tt0059646/, (Accessed: 23/11/18)

Figure 2, Bella de día y de noche, Catherine Deneuve,

(2012), [Online Image], URL: https://www.taringa.net/
+femme/bella-de-dia-y-de-noche-catherine-
deneuve_wy5qd, (Accessed: 23/11/18)

Figure 3, Repulsion at Catherine Deneuve and Roman

Polanski, (2018), [Online Image], URL: http://www.back-
row.com/home/2018/3/7/repulsion-at-catherine-deneuve-
and-roman-polanski, (Accessed: 23/11/18)

Figure 4, Catherine Deneuve Poster, (unknown), URL:https://

www.amazon.com/Catherine-Deneuve-16x20-Poster-
Repulsion/dp/B074SZHPYY, (Accessed: 23/11/18)

Bibliography

Hibbert, M, (2016), Psychoanalysis in Film: Freud, Lacan, Mulvey and

the Male Gaze, URL: https://mikehibbertfms.wordpress.com/
2016/11/30/psychoanalysis-in-film-freud-lacan-mulvey-and-the-
male-gaze/, (Accessed: 23/11/18)

Sampson, R, (2015), Film Theory 101 – Laura Mulvey: The Male

Gaze Theory, URL: https://www.filminquiry.com/film-theory-basics-
laura-mulvey-male-gaze-theory/, (Accessed: 23/11/18)

Mulvey, L, (1975), VISUAL PLEASURE IN NARRATIVE CINEMA, URL:

http://www.luxonline.org.uk/articles/
visual_pleasure_and_narrative_cinema%28printversion%29.html,
(Accessed: 23/11/18)

Cwik, G, (2015), 50 years ago, Repulsion pioneered a new genre of

gendered horror, URL: https://film.avclub.com/50-years-ago-
repulsion-pioneered-a-new-genre-of-gender-1798285951,
(Accessed: 23/11/18)