A disturbing thriller about a deranged woman suffering emotional violence with nice actors giving superb interpretations . It deals with a sex-repulsed woman named Carol (Catherine Deneuve) who disapproves of her sister's (Yvonne Furneaux) boyfriend (Ian Hendry) sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence . The young nympho has a chatty friend (Helen Fraser) at the beauty salon where they work, who occasionally brings her into reality that doesn't frighten her. Things go wrong when some visitors, as her boyfriend (John Fraser) and the landlord (Patrick Wymark), show up at the flat. From the Award-Winning Director of "Knife In the Water" !. The nightmare world of a virgin's dreams becomes the screen's shocking reality!. Formidable and... Macabre!. A Slick Film of Perverse Originality!
A bizarre variation on a classic theme, a fundamental chiller of the 'Psycho' school, in which a woman feeling alone who has withdrawn from the ordinary world to live at an isolated apartment suffers astonishing nightmares. Resulting to be a psychological, macabre thriller with a frightening feeling of incipient madness that has seldom been realised with such imagination and skillness, though many of its more hallucinatory scenes have been imitated since, being a film really influential. Centering around the director's abiding concerns: sexual perversity , humiliation and insecurity , the eruption of nightmarish chaos into a seemingly ordered world, human betrayal , corruptibility and self-destruction. Here's so much going for this movie with a misfit role, colliding in an interweaving story of loneliness, mental disorder, killing, violence , uprooting, and suspenseful. If the subject matter is bitterly serious and bleak , as the tone throughout is very dark, while the precise imagery effortlessly conveys the tension , the suspense , the claustrophobia and the madness of the situation . Stars are frankly decent. Catherine Deneuve is very good as Carol , the girl whose revulsion
for men leads her along with the corridors of lunacy to the cashpoint of violence, showing all the agony of a tormented mind in her eyes. Also pretty good are John Frazer as her boyfriend , Ian Hendry as sister's fiancé , Helen Fraser as chatty friend and Patrick Wymark as a lascivious landlord.
It displays an adequate and intriguing score by Chico Hamilton . As well as evocative and atmospheric cinematography in black and white by the great director of photography Gilbert Taylor .This disturbing and bizarre horror motion picture was well directed by Roman Polanski , it was such a public and critical hit that it quickly established itself as a classic in its field, though at moments turns out a little boring, slow-moving and tiring. Polanski's direction is intelligent, never missing a chance of jolting the spectator with a sudden shock. Roman Polanski claimed that he had such a hard time making the film, shooting with the same surreal , absurdist style as his Shorts , and filming at an constant quarrels with his players and difficulties in communicating with his crew because of his then-poor grasp of English language. The motion picture was co-written and professionally directed by the Polish Roman Polanski . Polanski's cinematic trajectory is hard , problematic and full of incidents. In 1968, Polanski went to Hollywood, where he made the psychological thriller, Rosemary's Baby (1968). However, after the brutal murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson Family in 1969, the director decided to return to Europe. In 1974, he again made a US release - it was Chinatown (1974). It seemed the beginning of a promising Hollywood career, but after his conviction for the sodomy of a 13-year old girl, Polanski fled from he USA to avoid prison. After Tess (1979), which was awarded several Oscars and Cesars, his works in 1980s and 1990s became intermittent and rarely approached the caliber of his earlier films. In 1992 made Bitter Moon , but it doesn't succeed as the erotic drama it's intented to be and including some ludicrous lines from what must be Polanski's worst movie . It wasn't until The pianist (2002) that Polanski came back to full form. His career is full of hits and some flops , such as : his big success Rosemary's Baby , Chinatown , The pianist , Oliver Twist , Frantic, Dance of vampires , Ghost writer , among others . Rating : 7/10. A bleak, sinister movie deemed to be one of the strangest of Polanski. A compelling movie that's a must see for connoisseurs of the cinema's darker corners. The flick will appeal to Roman Polanski. Followers .