60 years of Repulsion: how the London locations look today
Made at the height of the swinging 60s, this chilling psychological thriller transforms ordinary cityscapes into a haunting reflection of its main character’s unravelling mind. We went in search of the real locations that shaped Repulsion’s claustrophobic atmosphere.
Roman Polanski’s ‘Apartment Trilogy’ includes some of the most unnerving urban portraits ever put on film. With the occult conspiracy of Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and the bizarre delusions of The Tenant (1976), these films look at the modern city as a realm of intensely paranoid horror and psychological torment. Rosemary’s Baby takes place in New York and The Tenant is set in Paris, but the trilogy begins with 1965’s Repulsion, where the city in question is London.
Repulsion follows Belgium émigré Carol (Catherine Deneuve), a manicurist at a Kensington salon. While the mid-1960s city is certainly starting to swing, Carol far from embodies its heady atmosphere. She’s unusually quiet and subdued, living in a flat with her older sister Helen (Yvonne Furneaux) whose relationship with married man Michael (Ian Hendry) seems to unlock some hidden trauma from Carol’s past. As she’s increasingly pestered by men, in particular single man Colin (John Fraser) and her sleazy landlord (Patrick Wymark), the world begins to disintegrate around her, with dark hallucinations driving her towards obsession, agoraphobia and eventually violence.
As in the trilogy’s later films, the city becomes an unnerving place. Seemingly quaint streets become the backdrop for mental disintegration. Wide, open areas are imbued with an atmosphere of stifling claustrophobia. Characters are seemingly overwhelmed by the anonymity of the city, and London never seemed so simultaneously pristine yet cold.
Here are five key locations from Repulsion as they stand today.
Walking in South Kensington
A huge chunk of Repulsion’s drama has the camera follow Carol as she wanders with increasing delusion around Kensington where the majority of the film’s locations are. This shot early on in the film shows Polanski’s preference for South Kensington in particular, looking up Cromwell Place.
Looking in the other direction, this shot looks over Carol’s shoulder towards the shops on Old Brompton Road.
One of the interesting things Repulsion captures is the early attempt to pedestrianise the area surrounding South Kensington tube station, with Carol wandering by some of the building work while being stared at ominously by a builder (Mike Pratt). Eventually, the road behind where the builder is sitting would also be removed.
Another shot looking up Cromwell Place is taken from further down and captures the (since removed) array of distinctive posts lining the road.
The pub
Several times during the film, various characters meet in pubs and restaurants, mostly in the South Kensington area used throughout the film. The most prominent is a pub seen several times on Thurloe Place, just around the corner from where Carol works. This pub is the Hoop & Toy and is still trading today.
Though the interiors of the pub are seen several times, they’re likely a very effective recreation at Twickenham Studios. Here’s a shot of the real interior to compare to their studio version.
Another shot of the pub shows Carol right on the corner of Thurloe Place. The buildings in the background provide clues as to the exact angle of the shot.
The flat
Carol and Helen’s flat is an intriguing proposition. The majority of it is a film set, again created at Twickenham Studios. But the illusion is grounded in actual location filming, both inside and out. The most overt location used is a beautiful set of flats on Trebovir Road in Earl’s Court.
We see a series of detailed shots outside of the building when Colin drops Carol off in his car before trying to kiss her. The shot shows the exact building to be Kensington Mansions.
The shot showing Carol’s distanced, horrified stare during the kiss also shows the other side of the road with its distinctive gate pillars. A shot looking down at this view from one of the real flats in the building is also briefly used.
Another location is used to further entrench the sense of the flat as a real place. Several interior shots looking out of various windows are shot further west in Hammersmith, specifically looking at Nazareth House on Hammersmith Road. However, with so much development of the area since the time of filming, the building these shots were taken from has likely been demolished, and even Nazareth House itself has changed enough to make distinguishing the correct side the shots were taken from difficult.
The beauty parlour
The beauty salon where Carol works features several times during the film. The building used for the salon is just beyond the pub on Thurloe Place. We see it in particular when Colin is walking Carol back there.
Colin leaves Carol at the entranceway of the building. Though some location enthusiasts believe it to be number 29, it is more likely number 31. The building is now a men’s barbershop.
In the next moment, Polanski shoots Colin from the doorway of the parlour as Carol goes inside. The buildings behind are undoubtedly those further down the road on the other side, again suggesting that the building at number 31 is the one that was used.
Later in the film, Colin sees Carol sitting in an unusual state on a bench. This location is just around the corner on Exhibition Road.
Its location is given away by the next shot where part of an ornate, painted road name is seen on the building behind. The building has since dramatically changed and is now a busy café for the area’s many tourists.
The bridge
In Carol’s various wanderings, she’s seen a number of times crossing Hammersmith Bridge. These sequences are incredibly detailed, and they provide some of the film’s most haunting moments. This shot shows Carol walking across it, looking over the path that runs along the side of the river.
Another shot, taken from the left-hand side of the bridge, shows Carol’s mental state deteriorating. The position shows the greenery of the Barnes side of the river.
Another shot shows more detail of Hammersmith Bridge itself. Today, the bridge has been opened again after several years of closure, though large mesh fences still line the walkways.
Carol gets to the other side of the bridge, and we see a shot showing The Old City Arms pub which is still open today.
On the other side of the road, we see Carol walk by Digby Mansions, a block of beautiful redbrick flats that line the riverside. The building has had a varied screen history, featuring in the final moments of Jules Dassin’s Night and the City (1950) and playing the flat of the main character from Colin Gregg’s We Think the World of You (1988).
Finally, Carol walks past a car crash in the parking area of Digby Mansions – which seems unlikely or at least very unfortunate once you see how small this area is in real life. As with so many things in Polanski’s film, nothing is quite what it seems and reality is unstable.
