Le locataire (1976)

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writers:

Gérard Brach (writer)
Roman Polanski (writer)
(more)

Release Date:

11 June 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

How could he escape from his nightmares?

Plot:

A quiet and inconspicuous man (Trelkovsky) rents an apartment in France where the previous tenant committed suicide...

Plot Keywords:

Tenant | Apartment | Window | Suicide | Paris France

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Roman Polanski	...	Trelkovsky
Isabelle Adjani	...	Stella
Melvyn Douglas	...	Monsieur Zy
Jo Van Fleet	...	Madame Dioz
Bernard Fresson	...	Scope
Lila Kedrova	...	Madame Gaderian
Claude Dauphin	...	Husband at the accident
Claude Piéplu	...	Neighbor (as Claude Pieplu)
Rufus	...	Georges Badar
Romain Bouteille	...	Simon
Jacques Monod	...	Cafe Owner
Patrice Alexsandre	...	Robert
Jean-Pierre Bagot	...	Policeman
Josiane Balasko	...	Office Worker
Michel Blanc	...	Scope's Neighbor
Florence Blot	...	Madame Zy
Louba Guertchikoff	...	Wife at accident (as Louba Chazel)
Jacques Chevalier	...	Patron
Jacky Cohen	...	Stella's Friend
David Gabison	...	Witness at accident (as Alain David)
Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu	...	Bar Waiter (as Bernard Donnadieu)
Alain Frérot	...	Begger (as Alain Frerot)
Raoul Guylad	...	Priest
Eva Ionesco	...	Madame Gaderian's daughter
Gérard Jugnot	...	Office Clerk
Héléna Manson	...	Head Nurse
Maïté Nahyr	...	Lucille
André Penvern	...	Cafe Waiter
Gérard Pereira	...	Drunk
Dominique Poulange	...	Simone Choule
Arlette Reinerg	...	Tramp
Jacques Rosny	...	Jean-Claude
Serge Spira	...	Philippe
Vanessa Vaylord	...	Martine
François Viaur	...	Police Sergeant
Shelley Winters	...	The Concierge
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Albert Delpy	...	Neighbor (uncredited)
Alain Sarde	...	Peeping tom (uncredited)
Philippe Sarde	...	Man staring at Trelkovsky in the movie theatre (uncredited)

Directed by
Roman Polanski

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Gérard Brach		writer
Roman Polanski		writer
Roland Topor		novel

Produced by
Hercules Bellville	....	executive producer
Andrew Braunsberg	....	producer
Alain Sarde	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Philippe Sarde

Cinematography by
Sven Nykvist

Film Editing by
Françoise Bonnot

Casting by
Catherine Vernoux

Production Design by
Pierre Guffroy

Art Direction by
Claude Moesching
Albert Rajau

Costume Design by
Jacques Schmidt

Makeup Department
Didier Lavergne	....	makeup artist
Ludovic Paris	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Alain Depardieu	....	unit manager
Yves Marin	....	unit manager
Marc Maurette	....	production manager
Juliette Toutain	....	unit manager
Lindsley Parsons Jr.	....	executive production manager: Paramount (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jean-Jacques Aublanc	....	second assistant director
Marc Grunebaum	....	assistant director
Jean-Pierre Poussin	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Raymond Lemoigne	....	property master
Eric Simon	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Michèle Boëhm	....	sound editor (as Michele Boehm)
Louis Gimel	....	boom operator
Jean Nény	....	sound re-recordist
Jean-Pierre Ruh	....	sound mixer

Visual Effects by
Jean Fouchet	....	optical effects

Camera and Electrical Department
François Catonné	....	assistant camera (as François Catonne)
Bruno de Keyzer	....	assistant camera
Jean Harnois	....	camera operator
Bernard Prim	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Mimi Gayo	....	wardrobe

Editorial Department
Jacques Audiard	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Hubert Rostaing	....	conductor
Carlo Savina	....	conductor
William Flageollet	....	music recordist (uncredited)
William Flageollet	....	score mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Walter Alford	....	unit publicist
Sylvette Baudrot	....	continuity
Josée Bénabent-Loiseau	....	press attache (as Josée Bénabent)
Simone Escoffier	....	production secretary
Robert Rietty	....	dialogue director

Production Companies

• Marianne Productions

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1976) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cinema International Corporation (CIC) (1976) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Columbus Film (1996) (Switzerland) (theatrical) (French-speaking region)
• Columbus Film (1996) (Switzerland) (theatrical) (German-speaking region)
• Paramount (1976) (France) (theatrical)
• Suomen elokuva-arkisto (1985) (Finland) (theatrical)
• CIC Video (1986) (France) (VHS)
• CIC Video (1987) (UK) (VHS)
• Cinemax (200?) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Esselte Video (19??) (Finland) (VHS)
• Finnkino (200?) (Finland) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2004) (Germany) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Paramount Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Berliner Synchron  German dubbing
• C. D.  Italian dubbing

Also Known As:

The Tenant (USA)

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

France

Language:

French | English

Colour:

Colour (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Portugal:M/16 | France:-16 | Iceland:16 | West Germany:18 | Netherlands:16 | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 | Norway:18 | UK:18 | USA:R (certificate #24469)

Filming Locations:

Hôpital Bretonneau - 23 rue Joseph de Maistre, Paris 18, Paris, France

Company:

Marianne Productions

Trivia:

Cameo: [Philippe Sarde]the man that stares at Trelkovsky in the movie theatre.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Trelkovsky is unpacking as he moves into the apartment, a crew member is reflected in the small mirror adjacent to the kitchen sink. Two crew members are then reflected in the armoire's mirror as Trelkovsky opens it.

Quotes:

Trelkovsky: [talking to himself]
[he opens a box and takes out a pair of shoes]
Trelkovsky: Oh! My! Where did you find these? They are beautiful! A size 68? I had *no* idea!

Movie Connections:

References Rear Window (1954)

Anatomy of Insanity

This is a wonderfully tense and intensely claustrophobic film with a slowly escalating and relentless psychologically terror. Roman Polanski stays true to his style from Rosemary's Baby and Repulsion. But this movie is more than a simple examination of the onset of insanity from within the person who is experiencing it. The theme of loneliness and the sense of purposeless petty existence are the real backdrop of this excellent work, the fact which makes it similar to Kubrick's Shining. Still, The Tenant has deeper literary roots. In my opinion, the inspiration for this movie came right from the great works of European literature -- the influence of Edgar A. Poe, E.T.A. Hoffmann and Nikolai Gogol is simply obvious. Poe's tales of madness out of loneliness, Hoffmann's stories of tragic delirium (most prominently, The Sandman, Majorat, and The Mines of Falun), and, of course, Gogol's eerie The Overcoat provided Polanski with the inspiration for this modern examination of the same topics.

Trelkovsky, a French citizen of Polish origin, is a nondescript and unassuming loner who moves into an apartment the previous occupant of which, a young woman, has thrown herself out of the window. The building is owned by the stern and ice-cold old man, who is hell bent on making sure his tenants do not make any noise and do not cause any trouble. He (and his underlings in the building) consider any sign of life to be "trouble." The old man spends much of his time enforcing a near-police-state-like order within the building. Undeniably, all kind of extremely weird things are going on in the building and I will not dwell on them. But it is the strange intrusiveness of the police-state which injects real terror into Trelkovsky's life. Faced with absurdity after absurdity, he makes some meek attempts to complain and ask for explanations: instead, noone is even ready to listen to him -- he is being treated like a piece of dirt practically by everyone.

It is also important that Trelkovsky's plunge into madness occurs suddenly and very abruptly. It seems almost like a psychological breakdown and a rebellion at the same time. He has lived the life of conformity, compliance, and quite resentment, never able to stand his ground or even establish his individual sovereignty. Trelkovksy's meekness is simply striking. His sudden and violent obsession with not letting "them" make him into the previous occupant of the flat is a pathological and concentrated reaction to the years of pent up passive aggression and anger. The infernal scream at the end of the film is the wild shout of anguish. In a certain sense, the completely unexpected finale of the film presents a huge puzzle which is not really intended to be resolved. But Polanski seems to be investing it with important symbolic meaning. This world is full of multiple Trelkovskys, little, unnoticeable people terrorized by their own sense of total insignificance. This is a vicious cycle of dependence between people's unconscious yet compulsive cruelty to each other and the tortured compliance with this cruelty by others.

This is an excellent, dark and captivating film in the best traditions of European psychological Gothic literature. I strongly recommend to watch this movie and take a look at Poe's, Hoffmann's and Gogol's stories.