Repulsion, chosen as Jordan Mooney’s Formative Film

Punk icon hosts Repulsion screening

Punk icon from the 1970s, Jordan Mooney, explains to Annie Waite the impact Roman Polanski’s Repulsion has had on her, and why she’s chosen it as her Formative Film to screen at the Electric Palace this December.

Formative Films is a new season which invites special guests to Electric Palace cinema in Hastings Old Town to present a film that was influential to their lives and to share the reasons for their choice.

Mooney, noted for her work with Vivienne Westwood in the 1970s, and icon of the London punk subculture, will introduce Repulsion, directed by Roman Polanski, at the screening on Saturday 9 December at 8pm. After the screening Mooney will chat to the audience during a Q&A.

Repulsion is described by Kim Morgan in Huffington Post, as “a brilliant portrait of female sadness, alienation, sexual neurosis turned to psychosis. A movie all women should watch”. Starring Catherine Deneuve as Carol, the film focuses on this fragile young beauty cracking up in her London flat when left alone by her vacationing sister. She is soon haunted by spectres real and imagined, and her insanity grows to a violent, hysterical pitch.

Thanks to its disturbing detail and Polanski’s adeptness at turning claustrophobic space into an emotional minefield, Repulsion is a surreal, mind-bending odyssey, remaining one of cinema’s most shocking psychological thrillers.

What do you feel the film offers younger viewers today, who perhaps aren’t already familiar with it or its genre?

“I think Repulsion stands the test of time because of the simplicity of its style. It has supreme intensity, suspense and cinematographic brilliance. I would hope that this film and others of its genre would encourage younger audiences to appreciate that true suspense is built slowly and with great detail. Very few words, by today’s standards, are spoken in this film, which enables the viewer to become immersed in its story. It allows you to use your imagination.”

Do you remember when you first saw Repulsion, and why it made such an impact?

“I first saw this film as a teenager at the Duke of York’s cinema in Brighton and to this day it has continued to fascinate me. It never gives you the whole story and leaves you wondering about the unspoken.”

Are there any scenes you think are key to the film’s message?

“I would find it hard to pick a favourite scene, but I really like the powerful imagery of Carol nailing the front door shut with a shelf from the kitchen cupboard. Bloodstained candlestick in hand. She desperately needs to shut the outside world out of her own world of torment.”

Book now to meet Jordan and see Polanski’s slick suspense thriller at Electric Palace cinema, Saturday 9 December.

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