Movie · 1965 · Drama, Thriller, Horror · 1h 45m · NR · English
Curator score: 8.5/10 (159.1K ratings)
The nightmare world of a virgin's dreams becomes the screen's shocking reality!
Overview
Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.5/10
IMDb: 7.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.91/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 96%
Metacritic: 91
TMDB: 7.4/10
Director
Roman Polanski
Production
Compton Films, Tekli British Productions
Cast
Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux, Patrick Wymark, Renée Houston, Valerie Taylor, James Villiers, Helen Fraser, Monica Merlin, Hugh Futcher, Imogen Graham, Mike Pratt, Roman Polanski
Where to watch
fuboTV, Midnight Pulp
Curator Review
Verdict
A stark, psychologically corrosive descent into isolation and sexual dread, Repulsion is one of the key early works of modern art-horror. Its power comes less from plot than from atmosphere, performance, and the way it turns an apartment into a mind in collapse.
Best for
viewers who like psychological horror
fans of slow-burn character studies
people interested in 1960s European cinema
audiences drawn to subjective, expressionistic filmmaking
viewers comfortable with disturbing sexual menace and mental breakdown
Skip if
you want conventional scares or a fast pace
you dislike bleak, claustrophobic films
you are sensitive to depictions of sexual threat and psychological deterioration
you prefer clear explanations over ambiguity
Overview
Repulsion is a masterclass in subjective horror: the camera, sound, and production design all seem to rot alongside Carole’s mind. What begins as social withdrawal becomes a nightmare of intrusion, bodily disgust, and fractured reality, with Catherine Deneuve giving a performance that is both fragile and unnervingly sealed off.
Worth noting
The film’s apartment setting is crucial. Polanski turns domestic space into a pressure chamber, where ordinary objects, cracks in the wall, and passing noises become extensions of panic. The result is less a monster movie than a study of dread, one that anticipates later psychological horror while remaining distinctly of its time.
Bottom line
It is also a film that invites difficult conversation. Its depiction of fear and violation is potent, but so is the unease around who is telling the story and how. Even so, as cinema of interior collapse, it remains remarkably effective and influential.
Top Letterboxd reviews
sophie yoshino (4★) · 4263 likes
Repulsion is what I feel towards this director
CinemaVoid 🏴☠️ (4★) · 3296 likes
This is an effective movie because who else but a predator could capture on film the sheer terror a woman feels when she’s abused.
Andrew Rogers (4★) · 2154 likes
Throw out that fucking rabbit jesus christ
nico ⛽️ (4★) · 1974 likes
a polanski film where the villain is men… the call is coming from inside the house
2011 · Drama, Thriller · 1h 53m · R · Curator 6.8/10 (710.7K ratings) · Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video, Peacock Premium, Philo, MUBI, OVID, Cineverse, Midnight Pulp, Amazon Prime Video with Ads, Peacock Premium Plus
Cold, unsettling psychological dread centered on alienation and maternal fear.