听 The walls start to close in, quite literally, on Catherine Deneuve in Roman Polanski's striking and disturbing psychological horror thriller, "Repulsion". Undoubtedly one of Polanski's best films, he has some critical things to say about it on this handsome new DVD release, which is available as a single disc, or as part of a Roman Polanski Collection boxset.
TECHNICAL FEATURES
Picture As a movie famed for its icy black and white cinematography, this DVD transfer does plenty to showcase it. There is some print damage in the first minute or two but this settles down to only the odd fleck here and there.
Sound The Dolby and DTS 5.1 mixes do add a new element to the film especially during the sequences where the walls crack apart. You will find yourself turning down the rear speakers, and some will prefer just to stick to the mono mix.
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary Roman Polanski provides the majority of the commentary, but there are also comments from Catherine Deneuve.
Polanski doesn't hide his feelings saying "I always considered "Repulsion" the shabbiest of my films" about some of the techniques he used to shoot the movie. He tackles some popular film theory myths, about his intentions behind certain shots and scenes, dismissing them in turn as instinct rather than some intellectual master plan.
Deneuve is able to talk about some of the technical issues on the movie, especially as she was often involved in the shot and could see what went on to achieve it.
A British Horror Film The haunting yet icy cinematography of the film was down to Gilbert Taylor, who is one of the contributors to this new documentary on the making of "Repulsion". He talks about some of the unusual techniques used on the film, and despite his experience, how he learnt a lot from working with Polanski.
Professor L Gregory This audio interview sounds like it was recorded in a shoebox. Once you've got over that, you can enjoy the many anecdotes from this psychology professor, who back in the 60s was involved with Polanski in trying to get a 3-D horror film made.
Additional Extra Features Also on the disc is a trailer, an animated gallery of the art director's sketchbook, an animated image gallery, detailed cast and crew biographies, and a booklet of notes and stills.
"Repulsion" is released on DVD in the UK on 25th August 2003.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Chapters: 18
Ratio: 1.85:1 (anamorphic)
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0, 5.1, and DTS 5.1
Audio Tracks: English
Subtitles: None
Captions: None
Menus: Animated, with music
Special Features Subtitles None of the special features come with subtitles.
This DVD was reviewed on a JVC XV-N5 DVD player.
