Repulsion (1965) – Film Review

Louis Belden

Psychotic, abstract and unnerving, ‘Repulsion’ is

considered to be one of Roman Polanski’s’ greatest works.
This review will take an analytical look back into Polanski’s
1965 psychological classic, ‘Repulsion’ focusing on the
monstrous feminine themes presented in the picture. Key
sources including Greg Cwik’s article, ‘5o years ago,
Repulsion pioneered a new genre of gendered horror.’ An
article looking into the legacy of the film and Jessica
Ledwich’s article ‘Monstrous Feminine’ talking about the
topic and displaying work that relates to it. This review will
be taking a look at the Monstrous feminine elements and
its relation to the characters in the film and
psychoanalytical theories relating to them.

‘Repulsion’ watches the loss of sanity and isolation of a

young woman who finds the sexual advances and
attention from men repulsive, she goes on to kill two men
in her insanity and in turn demonstrating the idea of the
Monstrous Feminine, a term created by feminist Theorist,
Barbara Creed. The monstrous feminine is when women
are presented to the audience to be a threat to any males
in the story often relating sexuality. Figure 1. Repulsion 1965 Poster

Carole is the character the audience of the film follow throughout the story as she is
isolated in the house, her motivations are kept unclear and she is completely unstable, her
repulsion and what seems to be a hatred of men directly inks to this idea of the Monstrous
Famine. Although the men are the first to make advances on her she ends up murdering
them conveying her as a threat to men, different from the traditional view of women and
demonstrating the monstrous feminine aspects of the film. Cwik states Carole’s character as
“A stoic young woman of ineffable beauty and disintegrating mental health who is harassed
by some boorish men, as women often are, and then kills them, by bludgeon and by straight
razor.” (G Cwik 2015) further demonstrating her as a threat towards men in the film and
demonstrating the themes presence in the film. Also relating to this idea, the powers linked
with Carole being seen as a threat relate to her sexuality and repulsion to being touched by
men and their sexual advances showing how her sexuality is used almost as her source of
power as when she is threatened in a sexual way she defends by attacking and killing the
males. Another idea within the monstrous feminine is this theme of the unknown, the idea
of childbirth and motherhood is a terrifying concept to men as they are things that men can
never experience so don’t really understand, relating to this fear of the unknown,
“Historically women's sexuality has often been portrayed as something scary,
uncomfortable and threatening.” (J.Ledwich 2018) This idea directly relates back to Carole
as the men in the film she’s a closed book and because of her poor mental health the men
can quite understand what is going on with her leading to this idea of the unknown.

Figure 2. Carole

Freudian psychoanalytical elements are also present in the film and also directly link to the
monstrous feminine aspects and often the ignitors of these elements. Colin, Carole’s would-
be suitor, displays the theories of the Id with his primal and selfish pursue of Carole, despite
her obvious uninterest and his impulsive to just burst in and continuous calling. He also
relates to the ego with his resilience and to getting Carol in order to keep his manhood. The
idea of the female castrator is a key idea in Creeds theory of the Monstrous Feminine,
“Women as castrator constitutes the most significant face of the monstrous-feminine in film
and Creed challenges the mythical patriarchal view that women primarily terrifies because
of a fear that she might castrate.” (Reads 2008) This directly links as Colin’s advances bring
out the monstrous side of Carole’s femininity and rather than being a victim she becomes
the aggressor, stemming deeper phycological issues she has repressed which leads to Colin's
fate. Another one of Carole’s advancers and victims is the Landlord. Whereas Colin
appeared to care for Carol and never tried to rape her, the Landlord had less redeemable
qualities yet still meets the same fate as Colin adding to this idea of a monstrous feminine.
The landlords advance of rape further the repressed phycological problems that cause her
to kill, thus having her fill the role of woman as castrater and further demonstrates the
monstrous side of Carole, Creed states in her book, “In other horror films, woman is
transformed into a psychotic monster because she has been symbolically castrated.”
(B. Creed) this further demonstrates how Carole’s aspects of the film and how the
psychoanalytical trigger them.
In conclusion the character of Carole and her phycological issues directly relate to theory of
the monstrous feminine, with her being a threat towards men being powered by her
sexuality, with the psychoanalytical aspects of the characters causing Carole’s monstrous
side to be exposed.
Bibliography

 Greg Cwik . (2015). 50 years ago, Repulsion pioneered a new genre of gendered
horror. Available: https://film.avclub.com/50-years-ago-repulsion-pioneered-a-new-
genre-of-gender-1798285951. Last accessed 22/11/2018.
 Creed, Barbara. The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism, Psychoanalysis. New
York: Routledge, 1993. Print.
 Jessica Ledwich . (2018). Monstrous Feminine. Available:
http://www.jessicaledwich.com/monstrous-feminine.html. Last accessed 22/11/2018.
 G. Reads. (2008). The Monstrous-Feminine: Film, Feminism,
Psychoanalysis. Available:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/395435.The_Monstrous_Feminine#other
_reviews. Last accessed 27/11/2018
Illustration List

 Figure 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repulsion_(film)
 Figure 2: https://film.avclub.com/50-years-ago-repulsion-pioneered-a-new-genre-of-
gender-1798285951