The film got released in , which was the peak year of Larraz' career but also the golden era of the typical "British countryside horror", it stars Donald Pleasance's curiously enchanting daughter Angela in a rare lead role and the two-line plot synopsis promises a dark tale full of mystery and eerie atmosphere. Nearly all reviews that I encountered were very praising, whether from trustful IMDb users whose peculiar taste in movies I usually always share or from prominent movie critics who unhesitatingly compare this flick to Roman Polanski's "Repulsion" and label it as one of the best British horror movies not directed by a Brit.
So here I was preparing myself to add another title to my list of all-time favorite horror movies, but I rather quickly got confronted with the realization that "Symptoms" is a superficially attractive but substantially void horror package! The vague mystery elements keep on piling up and up, the main characters never reveal the slightest detail about their intentions apart that they are raving mad and every type of horror or perversion is suggestive but fundamentally nothing happens at all.
The climax in "Symptoms" is arguably even worse than disappointing, as it literally just takes less than a minute and the whole "twist" is quite evident from the beginning anyways. But, it has to be said, Larraz' craftsmanship is vastly impressive and he manages to make the thin plot somewhat absorbing.
Pleasance stars as an introvert and inconspicuous woman, Helen, who invites her friend Anne who's more the social and extrovert type to come stay with her at the secluded family estate. Anne notices that her friend keeps a bunch of secrets, like who's the attractive women in those living room pictures and why isn't she allowed to talk to the odd gardener who lives in the tool shed?
That's all there is to share, but again, the depiction of Pleasance's mental dissolution is masterful and the film contains a gazillion of visually mesmerizing shots. Login Register. Loading, please wait. Quality: All p p p 3D.
Year: All There, she is almost hypnotized by her solitude, which leads to her mental state deteriorating as those obsessions come to the fore. She quickly descends into madness, which ultimately also affects those that are trying to get in touch with her.
Parental Guide. Technically speaking, Polanski made a very good film. He was able to portray a woman's descent into madness very well. BUT, apart from academics, movie reviewers and those who work with the mentally ill, who would want to watch this movie?! Yes, it is well-made and interesting, in its own bizarre way, but it's so unpleasant I just can't imagine the average person sitting through it. This is a conundrum, as movie reviewers OFTEN love films that few in the general public would ever watch.
In other words, can a film be great if it has hardly ANY audience? I'm not sure I can answer this question to anyone's satisfaction, but I do know I would NOT recommend any of my friends other than psychotherapists watch this film. At least this is well-crafted and unwatchable unlike some critically acclaimed films that are just unwatchable like The English Patient. REPULSION is one of Roman Polanski's most well-regarded films, the movie that really brought him to the world's attention and stands today as one of the most compelling studies of psychological disintegration and madness.
And I hate to say it, but I think it's overrated. The problem for me is the hype surrounding this movie, so beloved by film critics around the world; I heard about it a full ten years before I finally saw it, and it would have taken something special to live up to my expectations.
This film didn't. I find that it's dated pretty badly in terms of pacing. For the first hour, nothing much really happens. Deneuve's character doesn't undergo any type of arc, she's clearly losing it from the very beginning. EMBED for wordpress.
Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Title: Repulsion Summary: A sex-repulsed woman who disapproves of her sister's boyfriend sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence. There are no reviews yet. Be the first one to write a review. If you torrent without a VPN, your ISP can see that you're torrenting and may throttle your connection and get fined by legal action!
During a secretive business trip away, Mark learns that his wife Anna is growing restless in what he believed was their happy marriage. Upon his return home, he learns from her that she wants a divorce. They both go through a series of different emotions related to their situation, Mark's which is generally obsessive about learning why Anna, who he still loves, wants the divorce, and Anna's which is generally increasingly histrionic in getting away from Mark.
Caught in the middle is their infant son Bob, who Mark uses as a gage to Anna's mental state. Anna states that her want for the divorce is not because of another man, but Mark finds out that Anna has a lover named Heinrich.
In the meantime, Mark also meets Bob's teacher Helen, who looks exactly like Anna, but is her polar opposite in temperament. Starting a relationship with Helen lessens his obsession with Anna. But as Mark and Anna's encounters together reach more emotional and violent levels, Mark, with help of a private investigative firm, learns that Anna's love life is not all that it appears.
Anna's true obsession has a somewhat gruesome process and nothing will stop her from reaching her end goal. Parental Guide. Is it a film about marriage breakdown, a la the great European art-house directors of old? Is it a slimy, slithery outer-space horror flick? Is it a crime flick, like the '70s Italian police movies, with private eyes, motorbike chases, and stunts? The answer is none of these and all of them.
Sometimes horror can be just too effective. The marriage disintegration scenes were the worst part of the film for me. Zulawski has his actors shout and scream their way through scene after scene, almost brawling in some instances, hitting and cutting each other and trashing their apartment. Don't expect subtlety here — characters have sudden mood swings and can transform from caring lovers to violent psychopaths in a split second. Isabelle Adjani carries the film, and I actually find her the most frightening thing on screen: her blank stare and icy demeanour give her an almost alien look.
You end up really convinced that SHE is mad, so it may be one of the best performances out there.
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