Film: Repulsion

Yep, you guessed it - another dearth of decent programmes. Well, I turned to my film list again. With several at the same IMDB rating, what stood out to me on the list was Repulsion, the Roman Polanski film starring Catherine Deneuve as a young woman, seriously disturbed by sexual fantasies..

I think I did see this before actually - a couple of scenes stood out. But I remembered little enough of it to make it all right. So, Catherine (Carol) is a young Belgian immigrant in London, sharing a ridiculously large apartment with her sister. Well, large in my experience - but then, it does seem to be in West London, it is the 60s, and with both working (presumably, although we never see her sister doing so), I suppose they could manage it. Me, I can dream..

Anyway. She's gorgeous, of course, with no shortage of male admirers - unfortunately, she quite literally finds their attentions repulsive. She's starved of female company, though - her sister is seeing someone, and she seems incapable of organising her own social life. It's quite pathetic to see her workmate trying to cheer her up by suggesting she go to see a film she just saw herself - she laughs uproariously at the description, but you just know she won't go on her own. Nope, she sits in. And you know how that can wreck your head..

It's described as a horror, but it didn't work on that level for me. However, it is a seriously disturbing, close-up look at the mind of someone whose grip on reality is growing ever weaker. She keeps seeing cracks develop in the walls, which you just know is a metaphor for the cracks in her mind. Coasting along with her sister to look after her, she's thrown into chaos when the sister departs on holiday abroad - and by the time her sister returns, well, let's just say that there's a helluva mess to clean up. Literally. So, truly disturbing - the motto being, beware the quiet ones!

With nothing online on Meetup for Saturday - apart from something on the BBC iPlayer, which I can't access here - I'm thinking film again. Next most interesting at the same rating is Meet John Doe, a Frank Capra film starring Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. Does sound interesting.

And on Sunday, London Social Detours is hosting a "virtual visit to the Galapagos", complete with a chat about Charles Darwin. So, off I go again with them. Includes a quiz, apparently, for which the prize is one of the millions of books the organiser says her house is full of. Hmm..