History Film / Repulsion

* DoesNotLikeMen: Carol is either this, or just really, really afraid of them.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Carol clearly has ''something'', but it's hard to pin down precisely what. It's heavily implied that she's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, but there are elements of avoidant personality disorder and schizophrenia, as well.

''Repulsion'' is a 1965 PsychologicalHorror film directed by Creator/RomanPolanski, based on a scenario he wrote with Gérard Brach. It was Polanski's first English-language film, and was filmed in Britain, as such being his second film made outside Poland. It is also the first film in his so-called "Apartment Trilogy" (followed by ''Film/RosemarysBaby'' and ''Film/TheTenant'').

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: A hard 8, though not as a result of blood or gore, but as a result of numerous horrifying imagined rapes and one potentially real attempted rape. Besides this, the movie scores a hard 6 due to the rotten rabbit carcass, and the rather bloody repeated stabbings of [[spoiler: the supposedly attempted rapist landlord.]]

* RapeAsABackstory: Carol's implied childhood.

* SanitySlippage: The whole plot of the film. It's obvious that something's wrong with Carol by the 30-minute mark, when she sees a crack in the sidewalk and fixates on it, sitting on a bench and staring for over an hour. It gets worse from there.

* ActorAllusion: Helen's reference to La Dolce Vita (the sweet life) on her postcard is a nod to the actress playing Helen, Yvonne Furneaux, who was also in the [[LaDolceVita film of the same name.]]

* HateSink: The landlord starts off as a mere greedy jerk, but when we see him again when Carol pays him her rent, his {{Slimeball}} characteristics come into full view as he pretends to emotionally comfort her before attempting to assault her. Nobody is particularly upset when she rather bloodily kills him.
* TheImmodestOrgasm: One of the first things that disturbs Carol's obviously already fragile mental state is the sound of her sister moaning in orgasm from sex with her boyfriend.

* MindScrew: The viewer is put in Carol's position of never knowing what's really happening and what she's hallucinating.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: A hard 8, though not as a result of blood or gore, but as a result of numerous horrifying imagined rapes and one real attempted rape. Besides this, the movie scores a hard 6 due to the rotten rabbit carcass, and the rather bloody repeated stabbings of [[spoiler: the attempted rapist landlord.]]
* MundaneHorror: Basically the gist of the whole "apartment trilogy". The main character starts experiencing weird hallucinations at her flat, including cracks in the walls and AlienGeometries.
* OneWordTitle: ''Repulsion''.

* QuieterThanSilence: Carol almost never speaks, so when she's alone in the house, this is natural. But special mention has to go to the [[{{ImagineSpot}} Imagine Spot]]s where a man breaks into her room and assaults her. All we hear in those scenes is a clock ticking.

* RapeLeadsToInsanity: It's strongly implied, in the final shot, that Carol's mental problems stem from having been raped as a girl by a male relative or family friend.

* ShrinkingViolet: Carol is a shy, soft-spoken young woman who is clearly uncomfortable in social situations.
* SoundtrackDissonance: A confident, upbeat cool jazz number plays as Carol walks the streets of London, looking anything but confident and upbeat.
* TrashOfTheTitans: By the end of the movie, the apartment is an utter mess, with overturned furniture, trash strewn about, and rotting food. To say nothing of the corpse in the bathtub.
* VomitDiscretionShot: Carol finds one of Michael's undershirts on the bathroom floor. One curious sniff is all it takes for her to rush to the toilet to throw up.

* EpicFail: Carol's attempt to hide the body and the murder weapon. For that matter, instead of simply ''locking'' the door, she nails a board in front with a candlestick. And it's ''[[SarcasmMode not noticeable at all]]'' that she overturned the sofa to hide her second body.

* AssholeVictim: It's pretty hard to feel that sorry for the landlord, who was more than happy to try to take advantage of an obviously fragile Carol and sexually assault her.

* BookEnds: The film opens with a tight closeup of Carol's eye. It ends with the camera zooming in to the photo of Carol as a child, ending with a tight closeup on her eye.

* CrankyLandlord: The landlord. In addition to being cranky, he's also a creep who tries to force himself on Carol.

Creator/CatherineDeneuve stars as Carol, a young Belgian manicurist who lives in London with her sister Helen. Carol seems generally nervous and fearful, particularly of men. When Helen decides to go on a holiday to Italy with her married boyfriend, Carol is left home alone for a few days. [[MindScrew It doesn't turn out to be a very pleasant experience]]. Cooped up alone in the apartment, Carol slowly starts to go mad.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: A hard 8, though not as a result of blood or gore, but as a result of numerous horrifying imagined rapes and one real attempted rape. Besides this, the movie scores a 6-7 due to the rotten rabbit carcass, and the rather bloody repeated stabbings of [[spoiler: the attempted rapist landlord.]]