Issue 3: Dictationship

Repulsion

Daisy Atterbury

Screenshot from Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)

An eyeball with a dilated pupil.

We see her lying in a hospital bed, she doesn’t move. It’s not a hospital bed, she’s getting a facial. Her eyes are exposed from under cucumbers. She is at her bedside, she leaves the room. She walks to the window and pushes past a boy. She walks down the stairs and pushes back her hair. She speaks to a woman. She receives what looks like nail polish.

She crosses the street in another scene. Her hair is blowing in the wind. Someone sees her from a saloon window. She walks down the sidewalk and crosses another street. We’re following her. We see a boy speak to her. We see food in front of us. Someone knocks on the window behind her and she speaks to him. He comes around to the inside of the restaurant, sitting across. She unfolds her napkin while he speaks, and she seems to respond. She looks sad. He pulls her hair. She looks really sad, I don’t know why. They walk side by side in another shot as we follow them. She speaks as she’s leaving, and he grabs her arm. They speak more and she nods. He seems pushy.

She waits him out, and finally turns away. She seems to run away. A woman arrives and runs upstairs after her. She’s in the elevator biting her nails. She spits out a nail. She opens the grate to a man who gets in the elevator. She opens her own door, 15. She walks in with two people, it’s hard to tell what’s happening. We see her feet as she undresses. She seems to be wearing a slip. She gazes out the window, seemingly speaking to herself. She sheds one more layer of clothing and walks into the bathroom. She puts her foot in the sink and washes it with a bar of soap, running her hands up her leg. She hesitates with her hand near coiffing tools at the sink.

We are in the kitchen while a woman peels potatoes. She eats out of a bowl in the fridge. There’s some kind of meat that’s about to be cooked. She takes utensils out and seems to put sugar on something, she’s cooking. The women speak to each other. Something fell on the floor. She leans against the wall, and then runs into her own room. A man comes inside. The women grabs his hand but not intimately. He has a newspaper that he rustles, she reads to him from a magazine while they stand up moving around the room. He walks to a window and sees nuns down below.

The other woman kisses him or at least puts her arms around him. He strokes her bangs. I think she likes him more than he likes her. He checks the back of his hair. He sees her and goes over to her and pinches her cheek. The other woman gets on an evening dress. She sits on her bed. They’re in the same room. A poodle lies on the bed. It’s fake it’s not a real poodle. The woman keeps brushing her hair. The man walks in. He surprises the woman. They seem to have a conversation near the elevator. They’re actually in the elevator and they cross suddenly. They fight and leave the elevator.

She rests her head on her arm. She’s sucking on her own hand. She seems nervous. She sees her reflection in something and it’s distorted because the thing is spherical. She’s on the stairs. She walks into another room. I can’t tell where she’s going. She is actually looking out the front door of the apartment at the hallway. She turns around. She looks at the objects on the mantle. She wanders as if she’s lost in a dream. She looks below and sees one of the nuns. She paces around the room. She picks up magazines and sorts through them. She turns the knob on the air conditioner or radio. I can’t tell what it is. We see photographs of people sitting in lawn chairs. They look like a family.

REPULSION

Screenshot from Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)

Thick mascara and dilation.

She’s caking. Moist white woman with cucumber eyes.

She’s putting her lips on her own arm.

REPULSION

We’re looking into someone’s pupil. Their eyelashes are reflected in the gloss of the eyeball. The person is female with heavy mascara. When they blink we see a nice arc of liquid eyeliner covering the whole of a top lid. A glare of a light bulb reflects in what I’ll call her eyeball. But it could be the room, from objects out there to more. Her pupil is small.

A woman is lying faceup with a mask. The mask is cakey plaster. She has cucumbers on her eyes. She is lying as though mummified. She is getting a facial. She grabs the hand of someone nearby. Someone removes the cucumbers. An esthetician sits next to her. She paints her nails. We watch a woman come through a door. She walks across a balcony in a wrap dress with a collar. She is a processed blonde. She speaks with a woman holding nail polish.

She walks across a street. Her hair blows back in the wind. A man looks at her from inside a room. She continues across the street. Men speak to her. She is sitting at the cafe looking down. A man wraps on the window from outside. She is sitting at a table. They speak. They talk over dinner. He reaches over and touches her hair. They walk down the street. They reach her apartment. He stops her by grabbing her arm. Her blouse is silk. He speaks with her and adjusts his tie. He points down the street. He turns and leaves.

She is in the elevator biting her nails. She exits the elevator. She enters room 15. She closes the door behind her. She removes her shoes. She removes her skirt. She removes. No, she stares out the window. She says something. She turns and removes her blouse. She’s in her nightgown walking. She washes her feet in the sink with a bar of soap. She washes up her leg to the knee. She moves the shaving brush on the sink.

Screenshot from Repulsion (Roman Polanski, 1965)

Someone is peeling potatoes. The two women speak to each other. The other woman spreads something on meat in a dish. She bends down. They speak. The woman checks her watch. There is another clock on the wall. The woman answers the door for a man. The man enters. He is holding a newspaper. They speak. He walks around the room and she follows. She glances through the newspaper. They look at nuns walking outside the window. They embrace. They speak intimately. She looks in his eyes. He smooths his hair in back. He approaches the blonde woman, reaches for her face. She recoils.

The two women talk. One does her makeup. The blonde woman hands the other woman a brush. The man enters. The other woman and the man are in the elevator. They speak. The woman examines herself in the mirror. They quarrel. She’s upset. Her earrings are shiny.

She is in the room gnawing on her own hand. She notices herself in a round glass. She looks at her distorted reflection up close. She turns away. She walks around the apartment. She looks morose. She continues to look at figurines. She looks out the window, where another nun passes. She picks up several books and starts leafing. They are records not books. She turns a knob on a record player. She or we look at photographs on a shelf. She or we admire family photographs.