THE TENANT was Roman Polanski's follow-up to CHINATOWN. When it debuted at the Cannes Film Festival people stampeded the theater to see it. Falling post murder of his wife Sharon Tate and preceding his arrest for unlawful sexual knowledge of a minor, the film takes on more significance the more you know about the filmmaker. This is why I believe it gets so much praise from certain circles. It's a Polanski film; it must be good. It's similar to REPULSION and ROSEMARY'S BABY; it must mean something. So why did I get the feeling throughout that the emperor was not wearing any clothes?
Polanski plays Trelkovsky, an unassuming French citizen whom really feels his otherness via his Polish accent. There is an apartment shortage in Paris and he bargains with the owner of one building, a man by the name of Monsieur Zy (Melvyn Douglas, BEING THERE), to rent the apartment of a woman who recently tried to commit suicide by jumping out the window of her room. Feeling guilty, Trelkovsky goes to visit the dying woman Simon in the hospital where she lies in bed bandaged head to toe. There he meets her friend Stella (Isabelle Adjani, 1979's NOSFERATU), who can't understand why she would have tried to kill herself. Over time, Trelkovsky becomes more and more paranoid that all the other tenants are trying to force him to commit suicide as well.
As an exercise in tone and pacing, THE TENANT is a slow burn. The other tenants are constantly hovering over Trelkovsky, criticizing him for making too much noise or bringing women to his apartment or some other exaggerated annoyance. Polanski isn't interested in the characters further than simple representations. Trelkovsky is the weak outsider. Stella is a love interest. Americans are painted as loud and boorish. Shelley Winters (A PATCH OF BLUE) is given another one of her thankless roles as the white trashy concierge of the apartment.
Now for the paranoia of this paranoid thriller. In ROSEMARY'S BABY, we cared about Rosemary and wondered whether the world was conspiring against her or she was slipping into madness. This is what Polanski seems to be attempting here. However, because the characters are so broad, especially the other cartoon villain tenants, and Polanski hides the truth for so long, by the time we figure out what is real and what is not, I never cared enough about Trelkovsky to really feel scared for him.
In ROSEMARY'S BABY, Polanski so skillfully made us think that just because Rosemary is paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after her. Here Polanski seems to be making a simple statement about foreigners not being accepted at first. For instance, when a café owner runs out of French cigarettes and gives Trelkovsky Marlboros, are they secretly trying to make him more American? With Polanski playing the lead, is Polanski the paranoid or the character?
Toward the end Polanski crafts some creepy imagery, delving deeper into Trelkovsky's psyche. Again because I didn't know the character, I searched for bigger meaning and that is when the film shows its bluff. Because the film is too ambiguous and then too obvious, Polanski never allows the audience to follow the right track through the film. This made be think about all the holes, and also made the obvious ending seem so anticlimactic. Not only did I predict the weak TWILIGHT ZONE twist, but also it brought no further depth or meaning to the characters or themes.
Films mean something different to everyone. What you take in is what you take out. But nothing I've read convinces me that anything in this film is more than what I saw. There are some ideas floating around, but nothing deep. Knowing Polanski's past makes one pop analyze the filmmaker, but that's not the film. I keep asking myself, would I buy any of this film if it weren't made by Polanski? I keep coming back to the same answer — no.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
