- A gigantic achievement, the final chapter of Polanski’s unofficial urban paranoia set of films best known as the apartment trilogy with Repulsion (1965), Rosemary’s Baby (1968)—and I am not sure all three aren’t masterpieces
- If Polanski is the most talented of Hitchcock’s acolytes (and there are others for sure- including the imposingly gifted De Palma)- then it is fitting to refer back to my comment on Vertigo where I talk about how that film is the greatest crystallization of Hitchcock’s exposed neurosis on screen— this is certainly that for Polanski—a wild ride, indeed
- Polanski plays the Trelkovsky himself—a meek, acquiescing man who inquires about a vacant apartment. We’re not sure what drove him to the place but we know it is vacant because the previous tenant jumped out of the window
- Bergman go-to Sven Nykvist (Persona, Cries and Whispers, Fanny and Alexander) is the cinematographer here

A gigantic achievement, the final chapter of Polanski’s unofficial urban paranoia trilogy with Repulsion (1965), Rosemary’s Baby (1968)—and I’m not sure all three aren’t masterpieces
- Polanski starts with a prolonged floating tracking shot outside the windows in the courtyard of the apartment- a shot he would bookend, in a horrifying way, in the astonishing climax
- Greens galore in the décor and production design—the broken window is green, the hospital is green, green church, his kitchen, Isabelle Adjani’s turtleneck, eyeshadow and scar—
- At the 20 minute mark we get one of Polanski’s trademark shots- his talent for shooting paranoia—he’s on the phone and the camera slowly glides around the open two doors alluding to someone being just behind the (green) doors listening… he does this in Rosemary’s Baby as well. It isn’t isolation he’s showing (like Scorsese’s brilliant shot in Taxi Driver of the empty hallway)- it is the walls closing in on Polanski’s protagonist (himself in this case). We get the reoccurring shot through Polanski’s oeuvre- the distorted wide-angle apartment peephole shot as well later on with the Melvyn Douglas scene. This is in Rosemary’s Baby and Repulsion as well

the reoccurring shot through Polanski’s oeuvre- the distorted wide-angle apartment peephole shot as well later on with the Melvyn Douglas scene. This is in Rosemary’s Baby and Repulsion as well
- The rigid rules set down by the landlord (Melvyn Douglas) and the concierge (Shelley Winters)—a lack of freedom, it also lays the groundwork for Polanski’s The Pianist and the Gestapo. The urban boundaries pushed inch by inch cutting him off— Polanski has so much baggage at this point being a victim of the Holocaust himself and this is the first film he made after his criminal charges in California…. There is a petition in the film to remove a tenant who whistles— again, it would be laughably absurd if it weren’t so upsetting. Polanski’s character is juxtaposed with the loud friend who flaunts his freedom with his music and brashness

the production design and set detail here is worth praising– like a colorized version of Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse
- He’s slowly transforming into the previous tenant, drinking her chocolate, Marlboro cigarettes, dealing with her friends—shots of the mirror and his potential doppelganger
- We get the bathroom across the courtyard — there’s the Jewish star engraved on the wall, Egyptian hieroglyphs (mummification is part of that weird bathroom booth) and there is ancient Egyptian iconography throughout the film

We get the bathroom across the courtyard — there’s the Jewish star engraved on the wall, Egyptian hieroglyphs (mummification is part of that weird bathroom booth) and there is ancient Egyptian iconography throughout the film
- The shot of 97 minutes with Polanski in the park with green chairs – beautiful shot

The shot of 97 minutes with Polanski in the park with green chairs – beautiful shot
- The film is disturbing, but there are moments of clear comedy- and you can see if you twisted this thing a little we’d have a full blown comedic labyrinth of absurdity— this isn’t far removed from The Big Lebowski or Under the Silver Lake by David Robert Mitchell.
- If you pair this with Rosemary’s Baby clearly Winters and Douglas are the Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer older couple squeezing our protagonist
- Again, it feels like Polanski’s rawest brain-tap—he’s wondering aloud about self-identity, drifting off from paranoia into madness- painting his fingernails and dressing in drag…with the wig and duel identities you can’t not think about Hitchcock and Psycho again as well

Again, it feels like Polanski’s rawest brain-tap—he’s wondering aloud about self-identity, drifting off from paranoia into madness- painting his fingernails and dressing in drag…with the wig and duel identities you can’t not think about Hitchcock and Psycho again as well
- The finale is breathtaking—flabbergasting—the double jump—complete with green panties
- If there’s a flaw—it is a few scenes of Polanski as an actor- he’s not a great actor. There’s one where he says “I know exactly what your little scheme is” with his finger in the air. It is weak. It is a remarkable film regardless- but I’d like to see it with Dustin Hoffman or Jean-Louis Trintignant in 1976— or maybe Peter Lorre if you can go back in time.
- At 119 minutes we get the 60 second floating tracking shot around the courtyard. It is no longer empty—it is like a bizarro-world Rear Window—splendid bookends with the opening shot

At 119 minutes we get the 60 second floating tracking shot around the courtyard. It is no longer empty—it is like a bizarro-world Rear Window—splendid bookends with the opening shot
- He then sees himself in the hospital, and the camera dives into his open scream

He then sees himself in the hospital, and the camera dives into his open scream
- A Masterpiece
Yes, I love this, it’s great to see that you’ve re-evaluated this movie, have you considered visiting the apartment trilogy? since there are no reviews except for this one.
@Aldo- well I hadn’t seen this one in like 20 years, that’s why there was no grade on it
Great review by the way, but it’s not urban paranoia trilogy, it’s apartment trilogy, i’m sure they call it that
@Aldo- good catch- thank you
Great review on The Tenant.Have you seen a film called Alien Nation released in 1988?A Sci-fi flick which has become a cult favourite.Also is a review on Pianist(2002) coming soon?
@Anderson- thank you for the kind words. I have not seen Alien Nation yet. I’m not sure when I’ll to The Pianist again- notes from my last viewing in 2017 here. But would like to get to again. http://thecinemaarchives.com/2017/03/21/the-pianist-2002-polanski/
YES! It’s great that you finally got around to watching this film. It was much maligned when it was released quite unfortunately – I guess the scandal had something to do with all the negative criticism. I remember scrawling through the TSPDT consensus and finding the Tenant somewhere around the top 300 and significantly above Network. While I don’t think it’s there (they may be close to be honest, but Network is just a bit too great), I was very glad that the Tenant is being viewed in a different light with the passing years.
This is an excellent film. Claustrophobic to the max, I’d say even more than Repulsion. Incredibly atmospheric as is the case with all Polanski films and – as one would expect – a remarkable meditation on society. It seems to me that one of the main points the movie is out to make is how people are perceived as being part of a system and diminishing their identity for the purpose of serving that system. Tenants are forced to conform not only to the rigid rules of the landlord but to the specific function assigned to them – with the loss of the previous tenant, Polanski has to take her place and throughout the course of the film he progressively becomes her. It is very characteristic how the protagonist is driven mad by the oppression and how the residents are trying to rid of unwanted tenants, who may symbolise anything – from Jewish people, to black people, to communists, to members of the LGBTQ+ community – people that have been persecuted for not fitting into what totalitarian regimes, society in general have defined as acceptable. Apart from that, there is a case to be made that the film criticises the capitalist system and the way people are turned into “cogwheels” of its machine. Regardless of the ideas it expresses, the style and tone of Roman Polanski stand out in this film, perhaps more than in most of his work, creating a unique piece of cinema and truly one of the most disturbing, thought provoking and -honestly- creepy movies out there. I’m looking forward to a rewatch – I haven’t seen it in more than a year.
@Georg- thank you for sharing- a nice addition to the page here.
What are your thoughts on Dustin Hoffman as a potential lead here?
At least I was about to post this until I read “but I’d like to see it with Dustin Hoffman or Jean-Louis Trintignant in 1976.”
@Zane – Hoffman could definitely play idiosyncratic characters and would be an intriguing choice.
What about Elliot Gould?
– the film has anti-Semitic undertones in regards to his neighbors attitudes toward Trelkovsky.
Gould is an actor with a strong Jewish identity
– he could play neurotic or peculiar quite well
– his performance in The Long Goodbye (1973) is one of his best, he plays a loner who is a sort
of “fish out of water” who doesn’t seem to belong or fit in. This would definitely translate to
the Trelkovsky character
@James Trapp – you didn’t know Hoffman is Jewish?
@Zane – I did, I’m not saying Gould is a better fit to play the character, I was just making a case for Gould as well. I think they both would have been great for the role.
So I haven’t seen The Tenant. But is Polanski’s performance bad? Does it hurt the film? Drake says here that there are few scenes with Polanski that aren’t great. So I guess for the rest of the movie he does a solid job. Certainly I don’t expect him to give one of the best performances of the year even if the movie is one of the year’s best.
@Malith- The role is prime for one of the best performances of the year with the right actor
@Malith : Drake’s mention of Polanski’s acting is pretty spot-on, he’s mostly fine but there really are 3-4 lines that are delivered awfully and they do take you out of it.
@Malith – Harry is right, Polanski is serviceable in the film but at times you do wonder what another actor – in my (and Drake’s) case, Dustin Hoffman – would be able to achieve with the material.
@Malith – completely agree with Harry and Zane regarding Polanski’s acting performance.
But if you’re considering watching do not let that stop you, it’s a phenomenal film, one of Polanski’s best, my top 5 for Polanski:
1. Chinatown
2. Rosemary’s Baby
3. Repulsion
4. The Tenant
5. The Ghost Writer
The Tenant is definitely worth watching, like Georg says in an above post it’s atmospheric like most of Polanski’s films. It’s tense, suspenseful, and thought provoking. It’s the unofficial final chapter to the “apartment” trilogy and definitely shares traits with Rosemary’s Baby and Repulsion.
@Drake- So is this a case similar to Ryan O’Neal in Barry Lyndon? You mention Dustin Hoffman here. But I guess he is too busy around this time doing both Marathon Man and All the President’s Men.
@Malith- yes- they would fall in the same category for me. And yes- Hoffman was hot during this period and made great choices.
The Tenant (1976)
– After Polanski the next key name mentioned in the opening credits that caught my eye was Sven Nykvist, Bergman’s go to DP
– Polanski plays protagonist, Trelkovsky
– Amazing low angle shot of spiral staircase at 4:20 mark, Polanski’s famous claustrophobic camera angles are beginning
– 23:09 shots of interior of apartment’s appropriate drab colors, green and gray, that reflect the cold atmosphere and unfriendliness of neighbors
– Mirrors as motif
– Party scene near 30 min mark very strange, are these Trelkovsky’s friends? There seems to be a disconnect just in the way that they interact with each other
– 35:12 mark repeated shot from 4:20 mark with the spiral staircase
– 35:35-mark nice framing through the open doors to the kitchen
– 42:10 shot of the film so far with Trelkovsky looking through his window to his neighbors window using tight framing
– The apartment is a character in itself and a dark one at that, similar to The Shining (1980) actually
– Repetition throughout, trips to diner, conversations with other tenants, Trelkovsky looking across the courtyard at people staring back at him
– Certainly Kafkaesque undertones with inexplicable things having, everyone seems out to get Trelkovsky, at least from his point of view. Even the cops treat him in a hostile manner
– Anti-Semitic undertones
– Excellent shot around 1:26:30 mark, closed in space
– 1:39:14 great high angle shot of courtyard with all the tenants attacking the woman they tried to vote out of the apartment
– Slow burn for sure just like Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby
– Ticking clocks like Rosemary’s Baby
– While I agree that Polanski is not the strongest of actors and would have preferred a number of better actors mentioned in the above discussion on this page, I do ultimately believe he gives a passable performance. He does play meek quite well and I think his performance is strong enough that it does not hurt the film all that much, but I do agree that it would have better if someone else had played the role.
– This has all the same amazing space manipulation of Repulsion and Rosemary’s Baby and I do not know if anyone including even the great Alfred Hitchcock can create paranoia better than Polanski.
– Agree that this is a borderline Masterpiece
I was quite impressed with Melvyn Douglas’ performance here. He hit all the right notes and the dialogue delivered by him stays in the mind and is chilling. The film mainly focuses on Polanski so Douglas didn’t get a substantial amount of screen time but he made the most of it.