I am a fan of Roman Polnaski's films. Chinatown is sublime, and firmly in my top 10. Rosemary's Baby is superb and certainly in my top 10 Horrors. His Macbeth is pretty great and I liked Frantic and The Pianist. So when I came across The Tenant in a charity shop (in fact it was a box set with Chinatown and Rosemary's Baby) and saw it was well rated online, I thought it was a result, so I sat down to it in the week.
Without giving much away - It started and built pretty nicely in the first 70 or so minutes. There are echoes of Rosemary's Baby; somebody moves in to an apartment which has a shady past, neighbours seem to have an agenda and things happen that suggest a higher force at work. But despite a well realised set-up, and the plot evolving to cultivate the mystery well, it's the final act that takes over so strongly, which in this case isn't really a good thing.
This isn't a review, it's more of a reaction, so I won't go into much detail, but the tenant (played by Polanski himself in a remarkably unnatural performance) is essentially turned into the previous tenant, a young woman who he is told had killed herself inexplicably by jumping out of the window (more similarities with Rosemary's Baby). This isn't a new thing in horror, and has been done well in others, but in this, it was approached in such a strange way. It's not easy to explain the issues to someone who hasn't seen it but, besides the fact the transition happens more quickly than it should, it is shown to happen to the character physically much more than mentally. There's no other way of putting it, he starts to dress and make up like the woman previously - without seeming to actually imitate her. What I'm trying to say is that it felt like a gimmick to have a man dressed up as a woman, and it was just so weird to look at. It felt almost entirely unnecessary, superficial and shallow.. the actual effects of the plot point weren't given any real credence, if it had been treated with more discipline it wouldn't have been an issue. For instance, something like the Danish Girl (although I didn't think it was a great film) does it very well because the physical transformation is a bi-product of the mental one, giving it the gravitas it needs.
All the strange goings on are entirely unexplained, which in itself isn't an issue (after all, Don't Look Now manages to pull it off wonderfully), but since things aren't delivered as graciously as they should be, and it all feels so cobbled together, it seems unimportant come the end, and as a result, slightly a waste of time, perhaps even farcical. It's a strange thing, given all his other work is at least good, that this can be such a misfire. He really should have known better.
Saying all of this though, it has stuck with me, so at least it wasn't forgettable, and it certainly hasn't put me off seeing more of his work. Next I would like to do Repulsion, if I'm lucky to come across it on my rounds.
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