Other Titles • The Tenant (1976) • Le Locataire • Der Mieter (1976)
Synopses for The Tenant (1976)
1.
After the triumph of Chinatown, Roman Polanski's The Tenant marked an unsettling return to the horrifying psychodrama of Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. As in those previous films, Polanski explores a descent into madness with subtle, deliberate pacing and keen attention to accumulating details. Cannily casting himself in the title role, Polanski plays the mild-mannered occupant of a Parisian flat previously rented by a woman who committed suicide by leaping from her upper-floor balcony. The woman's leftover belongings and the harsh attitudes of disapproving neighbors (including Melvin Douglas and Shelley Winters) begin to grate on the new tenant's psyche; his paranoia shifts from simmering anxiety to full-blown psychosis, until fate itself seems to run in a complete, tragically tormenting circle. Polanski masters the material as only he could, and despite some critical drubbing at the time of its release, The Tenant has earned a place among Polanski's finest films. --Jeff Shannon
(15 votes)
2.
Trelkovsky (director Roman Polanski), a Polish immigrant residing in Paris, moves into an apartment vacated by a young woman who committed suicide by leaping out of her window. Upon moving in, Trelkovsky begins feeling that the woman's personality traits are being thrust upon him. At a local shop, the proprietor offers him the breakfast and cigarettes that the woman usually purchased -- and he accepts them. Holed up in the psychotic environment of a dark Parisian building that's peopled with odd characters, Trelkovsky feels himself overcome by a kind of madness. His slow mental deterioration finally compels him to emulate the woman's final, tragic hours. Polanski's twisted and darkly comic thriller was nominated for the Golden Palm (Best Picture) at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival.
(15 votes)
3.
A Psychological Suspense Thriller by Roman Polanski
An apartment with an unhappy past, in a building filled with faintly sinister residents, set the stage for filmmaker Roman Polanski's riveting thriller, The Tenant. Polanski plays Trelkovsky, a quiet, timid file clerk increasingly overshadowed with dread and fear after he moves into his new home. Adding to his paranoia are the building's other occupants, who do nothing to alleviate his growing obsession with the untimely, tragic fate of the apartment's previous tenant. Is Trelkovsky's dread truly justified-or is it simply the result of his seemingly disintegrating mental state? A brilliant international cast (Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Jo Van Fleet, Bernard Fresson, Lila Kedrova, Shelley Winters) and Polanski's own penchant for packaging and delivering unprecedented suspense (Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown) make The Tenant a haunting, riveting film classic!
(15 votes)
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