Repulsion - Film Review

This review will focus on Repulsion directed by Roman Polanski in 1965 and how the
male gaze applies to the main character of the film. Key source will be Laura Mulvey’s
“Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” (1975), in which she describes the phenomenon
of the male gaze and the effect is has on the characters but also the viewer.

Repulsion follows the life of Carol who lives in an apartment in London that she shares
with her older sister. The shy, beautiful young Belgian women is being admired by a lot of
men through out the film which only makes her mental instability worse. After her sister
left for a vacation with her lover, Carol remains alone in the apartment which causes her to
loose complete control of her life.

Coral symbolizes the Western archetype of femininity and

also applies to the very popular “Hitchcock blonde” of the
time. Therefore she is presented as a sexual object to the
characters of the film. That can be seen in the scene where
she passes a construction site and a worker catcalls her.
The fact that the worker is just wearing an undershirt which
therefore shows his muscled arms even underlines the
superior power of men. However Coral doesn’t even pay
any attention to it and doesn’t even look at the worker. Fig. 1 - Worker gazing over Coral
But the camera reveals their expressions so “the camera,
in other words, reproduces Carole’s emotional movement
from indifference, even amusement, to fear and disgust […]“ (Moore, 2016)

All the attention makes her very uncomfortable since

she doesn’t dress provocative. Therefore her innocent
look and reserved attitude applies to Mulvey’s theory
of representing women as the passive and weak part.
The active and strong counterpart is therefore Colin
who tried to win her heart from the very beginning of
the film. However she avoids looking at him and hardly
ever speaks therefore her gestures of politeness and
agreeableness can be seen as a survival strategy. She
obeys him and doesn’t even dare to resist the kiss,
which obviously disgust her. “Her disgust and desire
bleed and blend into each other; she is so powerfully
disgusted by what she desires that she has started to
desire what disgusts her.“ (Moore, 2016)

It is exactly that behavior combined with her outer

appearance that makes her so attractive to Colin. He
Fig. 2 Colin touching Coral is not interested in her as a person or how she actually
feels but just sees her as an object of desire.

“The Women in the film as object of the combined gaze

of spectator and all the male protagonists in the film. She
is isolated, glamorous, on display, sexualized.” (Mulvey,
N/A) That theory of Mulvey doesn’t only apply to the
characters of the movie but also the viewer itself. From
the very beginning the viewer is invited to fantasize about
Coral through the use of a close up of her eyes as seen
in figure 3. That can be seen as an invasion of her privacy Fig. 3 Close up of Coral’s eyes
and Laura Mulvey labels this phenomena as 

scopophilia which she desribes as “sexual satisfaction come from watching”.

But the sexual satisfaction for the male viewer is

Fig. 4 Coral naked and disoriented
also supported by scenes where Coral is getting
undressed, walking around in only a nightgown
or even completely naked as seen in figure 4.
Carole is shown as sexually paranoid and all the
unwanted attention of men is a threat to the
fragile integrity of her self. Roman Polanski
himself described Carol as a “[…] a girl with a
problem” since all male contact seems to send
her into a panicked, manic state this results in
her mental confusion and leading to kill two
men.

Therefore the character of Carol in Repulsion applies to Mulvey’s male gaze which effects
the characters of the film but also the male viewers. She is represented as a passive,
weak and disoriented character which makes her an object of desire to some people but
also leads to the sexual satisfaction that comes from watching women. However since
male “viewers don’t want to see bad things happen to, or because of, a beautiful woman“
(Cwik, 2015) the movie overall is more interested in presenting Carole as mentally
unstable woman rather than treating her consistently as a sex object. Therefore her
mental instability makes her unattractive to the male gaze.

Bibliography

Cwik, G. (2015). [online] Film.avclub.com. Available at: https://film.avclub.com/50-years-

ago-repulsion-pioneered-a-new-genre-of-gender-1798285951 [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018].

Moore, E. (2016). Sexual Violence and Female Experience in Roman Polanski’s Apartment
Trilogy: Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby, The Tenant - Bright Lights Film Journal. [online]
Bright Lights Film Journal. Available at: https://brightlightsfilm.com/wp-content/cache/all/
sexual-violence-female-experience-roman-polanskis-apartment-trilogy-repulsion-
rosemarys-baby-tenant/#.W_sjCy34yLI [Accessed 25 Nov. 2018].

Mulvey, L. (1975). Visual pleasure and narrative cinema.

Illustration List

Fig. 1 Worker gazing over Coral - https://alexonfilm.com/2016/08/14/repulsion-1965/

Fig. 2 Colin touching Coral - http://storiesforghosts.com/a-look-back-at-repulsion-on-

its-50th-anniversary/

Fig. 3 Close up of Coral’s eyes - https://filmgrimoire.com/2015/05/17/repulsion-1965-i-

must-get-this-crack-mended/

Fig. 4 Coral naked and disoriented - https://alexonfilm.com/2016/08/14/repulsion-1965/