The men in my little girl's life

Last week Jeffrey Wells posted a bit of a sneak preview of Criterion's upcoming DVD and Blu-ray disc of Roman Polanski's fabulous 1965 Repulsion, and I was kind of amused by the "two cents" put in by one commenter: "[Catherine] Deneuve's character is kind of a drippy pain in the ass." It's funny, because, you know, he sounds exactly like an American version of one of the male characters in the film itself!

 

More than just a tale of madness, Repulsion is the story of a woman who breaks apart under the weight of sexist oppression that better-adjusted females contend with and largely shrug off on a day-to-day basis. I'll leave it to others to ruminate on the irony of Polanski having made not one, but two of the best, most sensitive pictures about how a patriarchal society can crush women: this one and Tess, filmed in 1979 after Polanski's departure from the United States.

 

The cracked porcelain beauty of Deneuve's Carol is fascinatingly refracted by the varieties of ugliness embodied by the film's male characters, all of whose portraits are etched in acid. You'd almost think Polanski was man-bashing or something! 

 

Gentle readers, meet...

 

Mike Pratt as "The Workman"

This rough and ready sort, standing outside a tent that leads to the underground lair where he does his mysterious toil, ogles Carol as she hurries through a London intersection, drawling "How about a bit of the other, then?" He will return in Carol's nightmares and daymares of rape and violation later in the film.

 

Ian Hendrie as "Michael"

The boyfriend of Carol's sister Helen (Yvonne Furneaux). A smug, faux-sophisticated, peevish piglet who refers to Carol as "Cinderella." Rude bastard: takes up all the shelf space in the bathroom and leaves his toothbrush in Carol's water glass. Also, he should grow some fucking hair. Bonus points: Sorry, girls, he's married!

James Villiers, John Fraser, and Hugh Futcher as "John," "Colin," and "Reggie."

Colin, center, is the over-eager drip in oblivious pursuit of Carol. Completely clueless about, or perhaps merely crassly indifferent to, her deteriorating mental state, his idea of turning on the charm is to say things like "You really make me feel wanted." Clearly, his time would be better spent auditioning for The Dave Clark Five. Colin's mates, John and Reggie, don't have any interaction with Carol (lucky for her...and them), but are full of manly encouragement and advice for their pal. "Still keeping her lags crossed?" John enquires of the young woman he refers to as "Little Miss Muffet." The above pub commiseration reaches a climax of sort when John recommends that Colin invite Carol over to Reggie's place so the three of them can gang-rape her. Nice. As for Colin, he continues his petulant puling until Carol, shall we say, makes it stop. You'll be horrified, but strangely relieved.

Patrick Wymark as "The Landlord"

As much as Carol may not have it together, sister Helen's a bit of a fuck-up too, neglecting to pay the rent for an unspecified period and then rolling her eyes and complaining that their landlord only ever thinks of money after he calls looking for it. That's what landlords do, honey. Helen pulls it together and hands the rent money to Carol before going off on holiday with the charming Michael, but Carol gets a...little preoccupied, and forgets to walk it over. So, soon enough, the landlord comes to pay a visit. 

He's not impressed with what Carol's done with the place in her sister's absence. There's the wooden board she's nailed to the front door in an effort to discourage visitors, for one thing. "You're damaging the property," he notes. And then there's that rabbit. "It's like a pigsty," he says, understandably appalled. And for all that he still comes on to Carol anyway! Men really are something.

And, finally, there's "Daddy." But revealing him would be a bit of a spoiler, actually.

Comments

[Allen Belz]

Colin was definitely the one that killed me (so to speak). Clueless is part of his thing, manipulative is another, but half-clueless in his manipulation, as if he's doing and saying all the stuff he's been told to say to make her go for him, so why isn't she going for him? Guyyyy! So perfect a specimen of the fella-hood of the time that he barely seems to be acting.

[Allen Belz]

Forgot to add that there does seem to be an undercurrent of actual humanity in him...that's interested in Carol, would honestly like to know more about her, and would even like to perhaps slough off his horrible buddies. But it's so hopelessly enmeshed in all the societal messages and pressures its actions and desires emerge on the surface all fucked-up.

[Glenn Kenny]

That's true, Allen. But he's also objectified her so thoroughly that he takes her genuine mental disturbance for hard-to-get coyness.

[Allen Belz]

Agreed, definitely...a product of those aforementioned messages and pressures. In ten years time he may've "progressed" to the "Women...such mysterious creatures" stage of objectivification.

[Fabian W.]

Glenn: So you think (SPOILER) that her father abused or raped her as a child? And that this is the root of her mental breakdown? Because that's what I thought, too, but couldn't find 'proof' anywhere...in German literature, at least. They just noted her 'empty stare' even as a girl.

[Genn Kenny]

@ F.W.: Let's say I consider that a reasonable surmise...

[Fabian W.]

@ Glenn: What else, right? They were probably just busy trying to find a reason to write about the Manson murders instead of the actual movie.

[Campaspe]

I actually think Rosemary's Baby has a great deal to say about the infantilization of women during pregnancy. When I was pregnant the last time, I was startled to find that it was the one movie that really GOT pregnancy and was willing to confront all the things that women hardly even admit to themselves--the fears that beset you, the feeling of being out of control, the way everybody pats you on the head and tells you it will be all right, the way you monitor every little physical manifestation. I was expecting you to name that one and not Tess, truth be told.

Repulsion, when I saw it, struck me as a not-terribly-interesting take on women's sexuality. WAIT -- before you boot me off the blog forever, let me say that you've convinced me I need to see it again and pay more attention to the male characters.

[Campaspe]

Come to think of it, this movie also makes an interesting pendant to the one being discussed just below ...

[Sara]

People tend to get sidetracked by Polanski's personal life when viewing his female characters. They throw the misogyny label around without really articulating what they mean. It's really nice to read an actual critique of his films from a somewhat feminist perspective. So, thank you! Polanski is my favorite filmmaker and I've always found his female characters, especially the central figures like Carole, Tess, Rosemary, and Paulina, to be authentic martyrs and/or survivors to their separate situations. Polanski puts all of his characters through hell, but his female characters are almost specifically created to show exactly what you said: "how a patriarchal society can crush women." I'm looking forward to buying Repulsion on blu-ray as soon as I can.

[Glenn Kenny]

@ Sara: Thanks, it's nice to know I'm not groping in the dark on this.

@ Campaspe: You'll have to try harder to get booted off this blog! I'm kicking myself for not including the great "Rosemary's Baby" in my consideration of Polanski's women, and I do look forward to learning of what you make of "Repulsion" when you revisit it. This thread has got me thinking that I ought to look into the power dynamics of "Knife In The Water" again...This is, when you get right down to it, one of the more fascinating topics in late-20th-century cinema!..

[partisan]

Ah, Polanski, the anti-Ford (much as James Cameron is the anti-Ozu). Claustrophobia, intimate betrayal, people doing the right thing and so not getting rewarded for it: you could say that "The Pianist" is his most generous version of community. After all, it's not Warsaw that's making Adrien Brody's life miserable. It's the fact that the city is being systematically obliterated throughout the movie that's his problem. And at the end, a whole concert hall full of Poles applauds him! Anyway, it's nice to know that someone likes "Tess." It's one of my favorite movies, though apparently no-one else's.

[Allen Belz]

As I recall, KITW was filled with plenty of thematic juice as well. Might have to rewatch that one again myself.

[Allen Belz]

OK, dammit, due to the price of the Blu-Ray being identical to the DVD and seeing that the prices of players are reaching reasonable levels I'm...yes, I'm making the switch. Of course it won't make that much difference at the moment as my TV's the same old one I've had for 10 or so years, but...