The beautiful Catherine Deneuve as Carole I tell my students that identifying phallic or yonic symbols isn’t doing psychoanalytical interpretation unless you can connect their being in the narrative for some reason. In Roman Polanksi’s 1968 film Repulsion, they are definitely there for a reason. We’ll be talking about phallic symbols in this interpretation so let’s begin with what that is exactly.
A phallic symbol is any object that broadly represents the male penis or any of its functions. The literary connection to the phallic symbol is to impart a symbolic representation of power. In horror films it’s usually connected with knives, machetes, and yes…even chainsaws because of their intrusive, violating powers. Yonic symbols are those representing the female vagina and its functions.
In Repulsion, I feel this is a film about the violation of boundaries. Carole, our protagonist, seems on edge from the beginning where we get a long close-up throughout the credits of her open eye. In typical Polanski attention-to-detail fashion, we also end on a close-up of Carole’s eye, but when she was a child. We’ll get to that later.
Carole appears to be disturbed, on edge. We attribute this to her not being able to sleep. The first two lines of the film to her are “Have you fallen asleep?” and “Hey, are you asleep?” The problem with not sleeping is that it leads to hallucinations. So this calls into question some of the things we see in the film as either hallucinations or dreams. We’re not sure which and in fact may also be realities or memories. It all begins in the bathroom.
Carole appears to be disturbed, on edge. We attribute this to her not being able to sleep. The first two lines of the film to her are “Have you fallen asleep?” and “Hey, are you asleep?” The problem with not sleeping is that it leads to hallucinations. So this calls into question some of the things we see in the film as either hallucinations or dreams. We’re not sure which and in fact may also be realities or memories. It all begins in the bathroom.
Carole comes home from work and sees her sister’s boyfriend Michael’s toothbrush and razor in her cup. She removes them. Toothbrush and razor are both phallic symbols as the cup is a yonic symbol. It’s also the first of many representations of violation of boundaries in the film. She even asks her sister, “Why does he put his toothbrush in my glass?” We may not see this as sexual at first, but our first introduction to the boyfriend shows that he is a very sexual being. He pinches his girlfriend’s butt upon his first entrance. So while Carole seeing him as a sexual threat may be an overreaction, it is not a groundless association as later in the same scene he violates her boundaries physically by pinching her on the cheek. She immediately flees. Michael violates another boundary when he suggests that Carole see a doctor and Helen defends her as just being sensitive.
Boundaries are being invaded throughout the film. Even when Carole is in the safety of her own bedroom, the sounds of her sister enjoying sex with Michael invade her space and she cannot block them out. Men are completely unaware of their boundary violations in this film, but when Carole accidentally enters the bathroom and sees Michael shaving, she immediately apologizes. When Carole goes to work, her friend Bridget is crying because of her boyfriend and a broken promise.
While in a pub (the safe haven for men in society) Colin, the man who is interested in Carole, has two friends who badger him about details of his relationship with Carole. One crass man even asks how his dinner went. Colin replies, “She had dinner with her sister.” To which the crass man replies, “Well, maybe you should try the sister.” No respect for boundaries at all.
Carole’s reaction towards men may be rooted in many things. At one point, a few men in a bar even suggest that she may be a lesbian. There’s a scene in Colin’s car where he is trying to find out what is wrong with her and he tries to kiss her. She pulls away. He tries again and she lets him kiss her. This is followed by the image of him violently putting out his cigarette in the car ashtray. It’s a very sexually violent image with the phallic symbol penetrating the yonic symbol. After seeing this, Carole flees the car.
Once at home, she wipes her mouth and brushes her teeth. She takes Michael’s razor and opens it up. Once again, it’s a very phallic image of a penis coming to erection. She sees Michael’s dirty T-shirt on the bathroom floor, picks it up, smells it, and then becomes violently ill. By now, we’ve been given enough clues to signal some association to the title of the film. For some reason, Carole has a repulsion to men or at the very least sexual associations with men. At one point her sister asks her, “You really don’t look well. Is it a man?”
While in a pub (the safe haven for men in society) Colin, the man who is interested in Carole, has two friends who badger him about details of his relationship with Carole. One crass man even asks how his dinner went. Colin replies, “She had dinner with her sister.” To which the crass man replies, “Well, maybe you should try the sister.” No respect for boundaries at all.
Carole’s reaction towards men may be rooted in many things. At one point, a few men in a bar even suggest that she may be a lesbian. There’s a scene in Colin’s car where he is trying to find out what is wrong with her and he tries to kiss her. She pulls away. He tries again and she lets him kiss her. This is followed by the image of him violently putting out his cigarette in the car ashtray. It’s a very sexually violent image with the phallic symbol penetrating the yonic symbol. After seeing this, Carole flees the car.
Once at home, she wipes her mouth and brushes her teeth. She takes Michael’s razor and opens it up. Once again, it’s a very phallic image of a penis coming to erection. She sees Michael’s dirty T-shirt on the bathroom floor, picks it up, smells it, and then becomes violently ill. By now, we’ve been given enough clues to signal some association to the title of the film. For some reason, Carole has a repulsion to men or at the very least sexual associations with men. At one point her sister asks her, “You really don’t look well. Is it a man?”
Colin finds himself in the pub again where the two men once again talk about Carole as if she were property to be shared. When Colin fights back, the crass man grabs him and says it’s all just good ole fun and kisses Colin on the mouth proving that men indeed have no respect for boundaries…masculine or feminine.
Colin’s second attempt at seduction comes soon after and he says to Carole, “Relax. Take it easy. Enjoy life.” But again Carole flees and this time he pursues her and forces his way into her room by breaking down the door. The violent breaking of boundaries is rewarded by Carole bludgeoning him in the head with a heavy candlestick…another phallic symbol of male power. She hides his body in a bathtub (yonic symbol of female power).
Colin’s second attempt at seduction comes soon after and he says to Carole, “Relax. Take it easy. Enjoy life.” But again Carole flees and this time he pursues her and forces his way into her room by breaking down the door. The violent breaking of boundaries is rewarded by Carole bludgeoning him in the head with a heavy candlestick…another phallic symbol of male power. She hides his body in a bathtub (yonic symbol of female power).
Every time she tries to sleep, there’s a rape scene. It’s filmed very strangely with no sound but the ticking of a clock each time, so we’re not to be sure whether this is dream, memory, or hallucination, or indeed…reality. It happens several times throughout the film. There’s also some heavy symbolism with cracks in the walls going on. I associate the cracks in the walls and floors with the cracks in her fragile sanity. There’s also a decomposing dead rabbit symbolizing this as well. But back to the phallic stuff!
The landlord comes by and again forces his way into the apartment. He collects the rent money, but sees Carole’s vulnerability and tries to take advantage of her and is rewarded by being slashed to death with Michael’s razor. Again, Carole uses the phallic symbol of maleness (razor for shaving) and uses it against a male attempting to force himself on her. The razor slashes across his neck in a kind of castration image. After his death, Carole turns the couch over on top of him, once again a yonic image cradling the dead man.
The landlord comes by and again forces his way into the apartment. He collects the rent money, but sees Carole’s vulnerability and tries to take advantage of her and is rewarded by being slashed to death with Michael’s razor. Again, Carole uses the phallic symbol of maleness (razor for shaving) and uses it against a male attempting to force himself on her. The razor slashes across his neck in a kind of castration image. After his death, Carole turns the couch over on top of him, once again a yonic image cradling the dead man.
Carole also receives a post card from her traveling sister and on the postcard is the leaning tower of Pizza…yet another phallic symbol. By the end when the neighbors are discovering the dead bodies, we see the post card crumpled up segmenting the tower making it look impotent. There’s an interesting moment after she has killed the landlord. She is in the bathroom and puts on lipstick. A definitely feminine act right before she goes to bed. It’s as if since she has appropriated the male power by killing with the razor, she feels like the dreams of rape will not come. She has overcome them; however, they come anyway and she is violated again.
There’s never any explanation given for Carole’s behavior or her violent acts beyond self-defense in the case of the landlord. But the final shot gives us everything we need to infer the answer to that question. It’s a slow close-up of a family picture where a young Carole stands looking at a man in the photo, presumably her father or an uncle as it was established earlier in the film that this is her family. As the camera closes in on Carole’s young face, we see two eyes filled with hatred staring at the man. It’s the final close-up of her child’s eye that ends the film. We are left to interpret this final shot any way we wish, but for me it is the one sign or explanation that there was some childhood trauma caused by the male figure in the picture that has scared her for life, most likely sexual in nature.
There’s never any explanation given for Carole’s behavior or her violent acts beyond self-defense in the case of the landlord. But the final shot gives us everything we need to infer the answer to that question. It’s a slow close-up of a family picture where a young Carole stands looking at a man in the photo, presumably her father or an uncle as it was established earlier in the film that this is her family. As the camera closes in on Carole’s young face, we see two eyes filled with hatred staring at the man. It’s the final close-up of her child’s eye that ends the film. We are left to interpret this final shot any way we wish, but for me it is the one sign or explanation that there was some childhood trauma caused by the male figure in the picture that has scared her for life, most likely sexual in nature.
It’s a very Freudian belief that our personalities as adults are deeply rooted in childhood experiences. Carole’s childhood trauma is merely alluded to in the photo, yet what we see is a film about her repulsion to sexuality, especially in what she perceives to be violations of her boundaries. While most people deal with these traumas through repression or rationalization, Carole develops defense mechanisms and reaction formations or projection and displacement. It’s also compounded and triggered by the sexual symbolism she is surrounded with. By the end of the film and through many bizarre hallucination scenes (the hallway of hands was my favorite) she takes the final refuge left to her…regression. She is carried out by Michael who still, even in this regressed state leers at her in his arms.
Well done, Mr. Polanski! It’s easy to see why your first English language film is a classic.
Well done, Mr. Polanski! It’s easy to see why your first English language film is a classic.
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