5. Carol Ledoux - Repulsion (1965)
Polanski's terrifying portrait of a young woman's descent into madness, Repulsion will chill you to the bone. Catherine Deneuve plays Carol, the beautiful but frigid Belgian manicurist who lives with her sexy sister - Helen - who is dating a married man. When her sister goes on vacation with her fancy man, there is nothing to tether Carol to reality and she goes completely insane. Suffering from acute psychosis, Carol hallucinates being raped at night. She sees hands coming through the wall and cracks forming in the ceiling. Carol is so immersed in insanity she kills two men who come to the door. In the end she enters a catatonic state a la Betty Blue, and we are certain the girl will never have another sane thought again. Catherine Deneuve, as Carol, does not vocalise her madness. This is because both she and Polanski were not comfortable yet with the English language. We get inside Carol's head via her actions and demeanour and I must say the young Deneuve is utterly convincing in her role. Polanski produced a bold and daring masterpiece. The denouement at the end hints at childhood sexual abuse as the reason for Carol's instability. It is a very sad moment from a tragic film.