Boy, do I feel like a slacker. It's two weeks and change until regular folks can get the Criterion Repulsion—in either standard-definition or Blu-ray disc, but man, is the Blu-ray remarkable—and already there are at least two reviews of the thing up on the internets already, one apparently by a bonafide doctor. That should be insightful.
I've held off on weighing in for various reasons, one being that My Lovely Wife has expressed interest in viewing the film entire, despite my protestations that she will justifiably hate me forever if I allow her to watch Roman Polanski's 1965 what-the-fuck-is-up fest, which I assuredly will creep her out for the rest of her days—but I still think her reaction will make for some good newbie perspective on the picture. Clearly I have to put such considerations aside if I really want to "make it" in this game.
One of the funniest things my old friend Mr. Joseph Failla once said to me was upon entering a Manhattan dwelling that belonged to a girlfriend of mine whose maintenance of her studio was decidedly lacking. "Looks like Catherine Deneuve's apartment in Repulsion," he pronounced drily. Maybe you had to be there.
In any case, just let me board the bandwagon now and tell you that this is an absolute MUST of a disc, particularly the Blu-ray. I will endeavor to weigh in more meaningfully soon, hopefully before some hipster or other confidently pronounces the film as being of interest only to nostalgists and/or rapist apologists.
The first writing on REPULSION I ever read is still among the best: the chapter on the film in Ivan Butler’s HORROR IN THE CINEMA.
Glenn, your book picks have been incorporated into a master list of “Reading the Movies” responses on my blog, to be found here:
http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2009/07/movie-bookshelf.html
Thanks again for participating. (And if any of your readers want to jump in, go ahead! There’s no deadline on this thing, just let me know on my blog when you’ve put up a list…)
I might as well start giving my entire paycheque to Criterion.
You’re only just now starting to think that? What kind of obsessive are you?
What’s especially nice about this one is that the previous DVD release (and the VHS before it) had very murky picture and sound quality. Unbelievable it’s taken this long for someone to get to this one.
Very murky’s an understatement. The old DVD I saw looked like somebody had filmed a bad TV playing a VHS of the movie.
Yeah, the public domain DVD made the film extra repulsive. 😉
I’ve been sitting on the disc for a couple of days. Haven’t seen the film since college, but it has haunted my dreams for all the years since…should be interesting to revisit it.
Not sure why the snark about the blu-ray.com review; Aksanov’s not a medical doctor after all.
Um, not to put too fine a point on it, but I think you answered your own question. See also “Dr. Helen Smith.”