Carol, a Belgian manicurist lives with her sister Hélène in a flat in London. The girl is very attractive but is frightened of men and unable form relationships. A young man shows an interest in her – at first it bothers her then she seems to yield. Carol slowly feels her denial of reality pushing her into another dimension, until she ends up killing the landlord who had come for the rent and tried to seduce her. Her isolation in the house with the dead body leads to the terrifying hallucinations. A psychological and visual masterpiece, this was is the first major international opportunity for Catherine Deneuve after the success of Jacques Demy's Les Umbrellas of Cherbourg. In the eighties the British rock band Ultravox paid homage to the film in their video for Sleepwalk. The film is considered the first episode of Polanski's trilogy of 'apartment' films, together with Rosemary's Baby and The Tenant. Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky is also clearly inspired by Repulsion.
