MovieChat Forums > Repulsion (1965) Discussion > Question (Spoiler alert!)

Question (Spoiler alert!)

posted 16 years ago by MajDutch
10 replies | jump to latest

Who molested her during childhood? All I could gather from the final snap was that she didn't have a happy childhood or was always a psychopath.

Thanks!

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I'm Atheist.

[–] bogwart-1 16 years ago

The child abuse is only hinted at; it's not made more explicit because it wouldn't have served the plot. The actual or imagined abuse serves to accelerate her psychiatric state and if it had been made explicit in the film it would have given the film a different focus.

What makes you think she was a psychopath? Do you know what the term means? She was paranoid, and her fears and earlier life made her increasingly psychotic, but she is certainly not a psychopath.

[–] pj2105 16 years ago

I don't think she really was, the whole thing is in her head. But because we are seeing everything through her eyes we can't be sure what is real and what is in her imagination.

[–] DogtownGirl 15 years ago

Maj, well ... SOMETHING surely traumatized Carol enough for her to shy away from having friends, or relating to men, didn't it? I don't know what it was nor could the nature of the trauma be determined from watching the film, in my opinion.

At the start of the film we all knew C. had a heightened sense of reality from how frightened she became after seeing a crack in the sidewalk. I think she might have thought it would eat her up. But, after she began hallucinating about things that happened in the apt., then ... we knew for sure that she was going mad. All sorts of childhood traumas can lead to adults losing it, though ...

I would assume that Carol was sexually abused by a man in her childhood.

-- Borrow money from pessimists. They won't expect to be paid back --

[–] mizhu 14 years ago

I'm always a little amazed when this 'she was molested as a child' conversation comes up. Where is there ANY hint that this was the case? No, the photograph doesn't show that to me. What the photograph shows me is that even as a little girl, she already felt alienated, different, on her own, afraid of others, not part of anyone or anything else, etc.

The 'it's all in her head' argument:

1) definitely armchair psyche 101. But...

2) of COURSE it is.

[–] interst88 14 years ago

Mizhu...ummm...there's hints all over about it. The man constantly in her bed. The photo at the end.
I think *those* are hints. Right? I'm obviously not the only one that thought that.

[–] nativenewyorker88 9 years ago

That's what I got. She's not looking at anyone. She's zoned out and judging by how she looks, her little world is not a pleasant one. I've seen people zoned out and some look at peace or joyful. She looks troubled & is clearly disturbed.

[–] mizhu 14 years ago

"All we can surmise is that it was a male adult authority figure."

That's precisely my point. All we can do is surmise.

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] BigEmpty 13 years ago

let me chime in here (no pun intended)

while every theory is probably correct, I want to add to it. I noticed whenever Carol hears her sister in the next bedroom with Michael it was when the bell chimed. So, when she was alone and the bell chimed, I believe she was pleasuring herself.

"All wanted was a Pepsi. Just one Pepsi. And she won't give it to me!"

[–] 9 years ago

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