9 Frame Analysis

The opening of Roman Polanski’s ‘Repulsion’

After Analysing openings of current horror films, we decided that it would be helpful to analyse the films that inspired our current horror film culture. Roman Polanski was hugely iconic in the film business, so his first English speaking film, ‘Repulsion’, is a must to analyse.

The whole film follows the story of a Belgian woman, who kills two men due to assault, harassment her own emotional instability. The film contains aspects of slasher, thriller and psychological horror, which are all suggested in our film opening.

The film opens with this certificate, to show that it is not suitable for viewers under the age of 16. This tells the audience that it is for adults, and is therefore very scary.

The production logo then comes onto the screen.

The name of the film swoops across the eye, followed by actors/directors names, and others who are involved in the film. This extreme close-up shot is a focussed beginning to the film, making the audience completely fixated on who this person is and why they are significant.

The camera shot changes to a less extreme close-up. This shows the show reveal of the character, and perhaps suggests that throughout the film the audience will see more and more of this person. This shows the audience straight away who the film will be concentrating on.

The camera begins to slowly zoom out to show the woman’s face. The fact that it zooms instead of cuts proposes that, bearing in mind the plot, this woman is not going to suddenly turn into who she truly is (the killer) but it’s a gradual build-up of events.

The woman’s face becomes exposed, as she looks ‘into space’ with a gormless expression. Now the audience are aware of who they will be following through the film, and are able to build events around her.

Before the audience get bored of only seeing this womans face, the camera switches to a close-up shot of what we assume is the woman’s hand holding another woman’s. The mise-en-scene reminds me of what you might see at a hospital bed, with a loved one holding the dying persons hand. This suggests the theme of death at the beginning of the film, which is also suggested in our opening.

The 9th frame shows a woman lying on her back with a cracked face mask on. At first glance, she appears to be a corpse-like figure. This again introduces the theme of death to the film, although it then becomes clear that this woman is at the beautitions. Showing this corpse-like woman straight after the blonde woman directly links her with death. This creates a state of equilibrium through the setting of the beauty parlor, which the audience expects to be disrupted by the suggestion of death.



An opening can tell you a lot!


By Emili Hone