Rating: 
Summary: A Polanski Masterpiece!!!
Review: Paranoia. Alienation. Suicide. These are the themes of Roman Polanski's 1976 film, The Tenant. The film is tragically funny and creepy. Polanski's use of space in the apartment and the dark lighting invokes a creepy atmosphere. The film follows a timid file clerk named Trelkovsky--played brilliantly by Roman Polanski himself--who moves into an apartment whose previous tenant, a woman named Simone, attempted suicide by jumping out of the window. He is informed by the landlord that he can rent the apartment only if Simone dies. With the hopes of her death, Trelkovsky then visits her in the hospital by pretending and lying to the nurse that he is a friend. He meets Isabelle Adjani's character, a real friend visiting, standing next to Simone's bed. When he witnesses Simone lying on the bed wrapped with white bands from head to toe like a mummy, Simone unloads a haunting scream--as if she is vengefully passing her curse to Trelkovsky--that would echoe and follow Trelkovsky as he leaves the hospital together with Adjani. After hearing of her death, Trelkovsky celebratingly moves into the apartment where his paranoia and downfall begins. This film is one of my all-time favorites because it belongs in that "man in his room" category. There are only a few films out there like it. I think I can only name a few such as Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver or the French film, I Stand Alone. What I mean by "Man in his room" category is existential loneliness like the protagonist in Jean-Paul Sartre's Nausea. The person is isolated in his space and is left with only to reflect or create his own world. In Trelkovsky's case, he creates a world of conspiracy in which the other tenants in the apartment are trying to make him commit suicide. And what happens with Trelkovsky's delusion is ultimately a funny but tragic climax. The first time I saw this film, I thought it was creepy and dark. But the more times I watched it even though it is still creepy and dark, I begin to realized more and more about Polanski's humorous intent. The tragic ending is just undeniably hilarious. I just start laughing out of control. Roman Polanski is one of my favorite filmmakers and The Tenant is his best. It is very fortunate that he played the protagonist in the film. The Tenant is truly a Polanski tour-de-force. The Tenant's score, which I really love, is simultaneosly hypnotic and tragic. (Ingmar Bergman's cinematographer, Sven Nykvist, is also doing the lighting.) I am very happy that Paramount finally decided to release this rare film on DVD.
Rating: 
Summary: Surprisingly Good Thriller!!
Review: Roman Polanski plays a timid man who takes on the personality of the previous tenant, leading him deep into the world of schizophenia. The thing that strikes me about this movie are the supporting characters, preferably Melvin Douglas & Shelley Winters as a few of the wierd neighbors. There are moments when this movie dives into laughs. But it still holds you into its grip of uneasiness.
Rating: 
Summary: Mr. Trelkovsky - "I think I'm pregnant"
Review: Roman Polanski plays Monsieur Trelkovsky, and rents the apartment previously lived in by a suicide. He meets her friend, Stella, at the hospital, and subsequently go to Bruce Lee movie. They snuggle a little, but part after the movie. Trelkovsky has continual ongoing problems with his neighbors. Later, he goes home with Stella from a party, and though she is apparently willing, he instead talks about finding a tooth in his wall, and kidneys and severed heads, etc. About 90 minutes into the film, he starts to really go wacky, including dressing in women's clothing and thinking he's pregnant. The movie was obviously made as a thriller, but by the 90-minute mark, I was just bored and waiting for something to happen. It finally does, but I saw it as humorous, not "thrilling". The acting by Polanski, Melvyn Douglas and Shelley Winters was good, though Isabelle Adjani and others were mediocre. Perhaps fittingly, it also included a small role by Eva Ionesco, a sort of French Brooke Shields of the 70's (preteen/teen soft-core movies and nude photos). Not much to recommend this bare-bones DVD but the relatively cheap price.
Rating:
Summary: And you thought *your* Landlord was rough!
Review: Roman Polanski stars and directs in this vicious, haunting little conte-cruelle set in Paris, in which a hapless, mild-mannered Parisian bureaucrat M. Trelkovsky (Polanski, channeling up Dustin Hoffman) rents an apartment whose previous tenant flung herself to her death from the bedroom window, and who now lingers comatose in the hospital, minutes from death. Trelkovsky negotiates a deal with merciless landlord Monsieur Zy (Melvyn Douglas looming like an ancient human stormcloud), predicates it on the death of the hapless former tenant Simone Choule, and moves in on the news that the woman is dead and cold. Freakiness ensues.
Warning: this movie is vintage Polanski, very textured, very detailed, very meticulous, exceptionally deranged and disturbing---but not for the impatient. For best results, wait for an overcast day with the wind roaring in the trees and the rain pattering against the window, get a fire roaring in the hearth, drink some well-aged Scotch, and sit back and truly ensconce yourself in the weirdness.
"The Tenant" is a waking nightmare in which you can't help but feel pity---and unfolding horror---for the dreamer.
Every one of us, I think, has had an experience with a nightmare landlord. When I was a feckless undergraduate, I rented an apartment from a miserly but prominent lawyer, a wretched creature straight from Dickens who materialized on my doorstep at 2 in the morning hours after I had called to warn him of my pipes bursting. The man was about 150 years old, full of scowling fury, and cursed at me to get a bucket as I was a "useless, philandering young fool" and had destroyed his apartment---despite the fact that the pipes were later found to have been indifferently maintained for decades.
The simple question at the dark heart of "The Tenant" is this: at what point are we ourselves? How much of ourselves must we sacrifice---at work, at play, in our daily lives---to live in society? At what point to we cease to be? Trelkovsky, eager to please, diffident in all aspects of his life and his civil-service job, anxious to avoid offense, lounges drunk on the bed of his lover (the astonishing Isabelle Adjani, here hopelessly gorgeous) and wonders by what right he considers himself---his being, his soul, his identity---to reside in his head. Why not the nose? The body? The arm? Or perhaps the tooth, one of which he finds concealed in a hole drilled into the apartment wall, swathed in a cotton ball, hidden behind the heavy wardrobe of the apartment's doomed former tenant.
Worse still, poor Trelkovsky suffers the renter's worst nightmare: he doesn't even have a toilet in his apartment, and has to make a sojourn through ill-lit, peeling hallways to go to the bathroom.
Director Polanski is note-perfect as the meek and meticulous Trelkovsky, eager to please, anxious to avoid offense. And equally note-perfect is Polanski's meticulous attention to detail in the atmosphere of malice: a harmless, noisy house-warming party brings the wicked attention of his draconian neighbors upon him, earns him the disdain of the matronly concierge (Shelley Winters, who shuffles and ambles and grumbles with lugubrious alacrity), and merits a nasty warning from his landlord. Worse follows his refusal to sign a petition against a supposedly "noisy" neighbor, and Trelkovsky finds himself constantly warned against making too much noise, consequently relegated to scuttling quietly about like a mouse in his own apartment.
"The Tenant" is an invitation to follow Trelkovsky into a cycle the hapless renter should be familiar with: righteous indignation, an eagerness to please and forge allies, and ultimately a descent into obesssion and madness. Why does the local cafe insist on serving Trelkovsky hot chocolate and Marlboro smokes, both favored by his suicidal predecessor? What is the meaning of the late-night tenants who stand for hours in the communal restroom, looking for all the world like 16th century Russian Icons, standing like friezes, not moving a muscle? And why does Trelkovsky wake from tortured dreams to find himself cloaked in Simone's nightgown, his fingernails painted, his face rouged?
The transfer on this skeletal DVD is gorgeous---the film looks like it could have been shot yesterday---though there are certainly problems, not least of which is the paucity of features on this otherwise crazily intriguing, often baffling little sliver of cinematic grue. Polanski, already in the throes of legal difficulties over his alleged pedophilia in the United States, had fled to France, and the film was shot in French as "Le Locataire". Alas, the only DVD you can find of this brutal little gem is dubbed atrociously in English. Polanski, Douglas, and Winters all speak their lines in English, but it's jarring to hear French gens-d'armes barking out Brooklyn-esque brogues, and it takes you completely out of the movie to hear a clearly French waiter's request voiced like an Imperial Stormtrooper from "Star Wars".
But these are minor quibbles, and the character of Monsieur Trelkovsky is without question goes down in a fearsome triumvirate of disturbing cinematic cross-dressers, ranked with Norman Bates and Buffalo Bill. For the patient, "The Tenant" is a study of cold, congealed horror, and well worth the price of rent.
Rating:
Summary: Nobody Does It To You Like Roman Polanski!
Review: Roman Polanski's THE TENANT, released in 1976 (two years after his blockbuster CHINATOWN), is my all-time favorite movie. It isn't Polanski's best film (MACBETH gets that honor in my opinion), but this story (taken from Roland Topor's equally strange but less inspired novel) really "does it to me". Polanski himself (who also co-wrote the screenplay with long-time friend and collaborator Gerard Brach) plays Trelkowski, a timid, lonely Polish immigrant trying to make ends meet as a file clerk in Paris. Polanski's performace is genuinely amazing. There are not many actors, let alone directors, who would feel so comfortable playing such a difficult and potentially career-shattering role. In the film, Trelkowski finds an apartment in a dingy old building run by the oddly sinister Monsieur Zy (Melvyn Douglas) and a rude Concierge (Shelley Winters). The previous tenant, Simone Choule, attempted suicide by jumping out of the window. Monsieur Zy tells Trelkowski that if she dies, he may have the apartment. Trelkowski hot-foots it to the hospital to see how long it'll be before he can move in. Simone lies, semi-comatose, swathed in bandages like a mummy from head to toe. When she screams upon seeing Trelkowski's face, the head nurse demands that he and Stella (Isabelle Adjani), Simone's best friend, leave immediately. Trelkowski tries to initiate a half-hearted love affair with the frumpy Stella that evening, but they are unable to connect for some reason and go their seperate ways. The next day, Trelkowski learns of Simone's death. When he moves in, he begins to notice strange things: neighbors complain of noise, usually without cause; people seem to spy on him from the communal bathroom across the way; he finds a human tooth stashed in a hole in the wall behind his wardrobe; there are knocks on the door when no one is there; he is constantly bothered by neighbors who are either obnoxious (such as Jo Van Fleet) or pitiable (like Lila Kedrova). Eventually, surrounded by artifacts from the dead girl's life, and torn apart piece by piece by his increasingly demanding neighbors, Trelkowski slips into insanity, dressing in Simone's clothes, pulling out his own tooth to match the one lodged in the wall, and even purchasing a wig and high heels, intoning things like "I think I'm pregnant" to himself in the mirror. He begins to hallucinate, and his persecution complex turns into a severe case of schizophrenia. I won't tell you the ending, but I will say that if you enjoyed REPULSION and ROSEMARY'S BABY, then you will find this to be a fitting third piece of the puzzle. Like Carole and Rosemary in those films, poor Trelkowski is a victim of urban living, a pathetic lost soul not unlike Travis Bickle of Scorcese's TAXI DRIVER (released the same year), except that Trelkowski is a danger mostly to himself. Like I said, this isn't a great film, but it's worth your time if you enjoy horror films Polanski-style. And as a vision of one man's private hell, it's indispensable. I love this movie, flaws and all. Obviously not for all tastes.
Rating:
Summary: Effective, though not perfect
Review: This creepy but not entirely effective thriller features Roman Polanski (also the director) as the title character, a quiet Parisian who has just moved into an apartment. The previous tenant was a young single woman who -for unknown reasons - committed suicide by throwing herself out her window. Once he moves in, he starts being harrassed by his neighbors and starts seeing strange things and begins to wonder if the previous tenant was driven to kill herself.
Are the neighbors evil, is there something supernatural going on or is he just going crazy? Or is it a combination of these possibilities? We are kept guessing through a lot of the movie, and even in the end, there can be different interpretations.
This is a good movie, but not the best of Polanski's efforts. Parts of the movie are tediously slow and other parts are confusing, but as a whole, this is a well-made film: creepy, suspenseful and generally entertaining.
Rating:
Summary: One of Polanksi's best works.
Review: This is a great psychological thriller by Roman Polanski, who wisely cast himself into the lead role. It takes place in Paris at an apartment building where the previous tenant killed herself by jumping off her balcony & breaking her neck.
Trelkovsky (Polanski) is a reclusive guy who hears about the apartment & gladly takes the room. He slowly gets cold & evil stares by his neighbors & fellow tenants. He starts to see clues left behind the previous tenant, a tooth in the wall, some Egyptian writing, & articles of clothing. He after a time, dresses up like her in one scene & talks about how he's pregnant. He visits Stella (Isabelle Adjani), his friend & lover.
One of the most effective non-Polanski roles would go to Shelley Winters as his landlady, who at first brushes him off like he's lost his marbles, but then becomes more like everyone else there. Trelkovsky believes that the people are out to get him & wish for him to do the same thing as his previous tenant. He tries to kill himself towards the end, but only breaks his leg, tries again, & succeeds at it then after believing that dying is better than staying in the place any longer. He really wants to get out of the place, but can't afford to at all.
Roman Polanski masterfully ties in elements of the supernatural throughout the movie, the pace is very slow but not enough to be boring. The music is perfect for the mood of the flick, as is the camerawork & the casting. Starring the likes of: Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Jo Van Fleet, & Shelley Winters, it has a strong cast. The DVD itself is kinda skimpy with only a trailer as the bonus features, but the audio & picture quality is good enough to make up for it.
Rating: 
Summary: I WISH I COULD GIVE THIS MOVIE A ZERO!!!!!!
Review: To the person that wrote that this was a masterpiece please take heed to what I say in this review I will address you at the end of my review.
Attention if you intend on buying this movie.
If you or anyone you know has or have a sleep deprivation problem please watch this flick. I will mail it to you for free and I guarantee that your problem will be over.
I agree with the reviewer that this movie boring and makes no sense. I will give you this much the best part of this movie is when he killed himself but the DumbA&& couldn't do it right. So what did he do he tried and failed to kill himself again. Had a chance with the girl he couldn't do it failed again. Dressing like a girl....WHY? He was and is a piece of garbage.
Please take heed to my review and do not do not do not do not buy this go and buy Motel Hell/Deranged combo thats a good old flick and Horror Hospital.
In closing to all of those who believe that this is a good movie you must be in a comatose state of life that doesnt require a pulse. It wasnt a mind thriller or a heart racer it was garbage from Hell. I have been to Paris a few times and it wasnt that sh*tty over there. This movie in word one SUCKS. Please dont buy this.
Rating:
Summary: Polanski's best with "Rosemary's Baby"
Review: Undoubtedly one of the most horrifying films I have ever seen, Polanski's "The Tenant" ranks as perhaps his overlooked masterpiece. Polanski plays Monsieur Tarkovsky, a shy introvert (slightly neurotic) who wants nothing more than some meagre lodgings in a rather ugly, creepy apartment building. God knows why, but it sets up the framework for a really believable, chilling descent into madness. Tarkovsky is consistently abused, harassed, and put down by both the absurdly stingy landlord (a hideous old man) and his neighbors. Not only that, it seems that everyone (or is this just his imagination?) sees striking similarities between him and the woman who jumped from the apartment room he is living in.
There are memorable scenes in which he is frantically offered her brand of cigarettes, coffee, etc. Perhaps Polanski wants us to see in Tarkovsky the male echo of the former tenant; perhaps the movie is a reminder of the power of suggestion. At any rate, it doesn't take long for Tarkovsky to reach breaking point.
Crossdressing (and having an utterly pointless, unbelievable affair with the woman's friend--someone was looped behind the camera), he hallucinates her figure in the apartments across from the building. He finds (or does he?) teeth in the walls, and an array of dresses he is quick to try on. His behavior becomes more and more irrational. He slaps a child who has a slit in his teeth resembling the woman, he asks to buy a gun at a bar, and at long last withdraws from his obnoxious and ridiculously 'American' friends into a world all his own. The ending is both predictable and unpredictable, and sometimes strikes one as funny, sometimes as awful. What I don't understand is why more people aren't aware of this film, as it definitely one of the most powerful pieces of filmmaking I have ever seen. Aside from a few scattered absurd scenes, the entire thing is chillingly believable. I'm not surprised that Polanski himself played Tarkovsky.
Rating:
Summary: Polanski's best with "Rosemary's Baby"
Review: Undoubtedly one of the most horrifying films I have ever seen, Polanski's "The Tenant" ranks as perhaps his overlooked masterpiece. Polanski plays Monsieur Tarkovsky, a shy introvert (slightly neurotic) who wants nothing more than some meagre lodgings in a rather ugly, creepy apartment building. God knows why, but it sets up the framework for a really believable, chilling descent into madness. Tarkovsky is consistently abused, harassed, and put down by both the absurdly stingy landlord (a hideous old man) and his neighbors. Not only that, it seems that everyone (or is this just his imagination?) sees striking similarities between him and the woman who jumped from the apartment room he is living in.
There are memorable scenes in which he is frantically offered her brand of cigarettes, coffee, etc. Perhaps Polanski wants us to see in Tarkovsky the male echo of the former tenant; perhaps the movie is a reminder of the power of suggestion. At any rate, it doesn't take long for Tarkovsky to reach breaking point.
Crossdressing (and having an utterly pointless, unbelievable affair with the woman's friend--someone was looped behind the camera), he hallucinates her figure in the apartments across from the building. He finds (or does he?) teeth in the walls, and an array of dresses he is quick to try on. His behavior becomes more and more irrational. He slaps a child who has a slit in his teeth resembling the woman, he asks to buy a gun at a bar, and at long last withdraws from his obnoxious and ridiculously 'American' friends into a world all his own. The ending is both predictable and unpredictable, and sometimes strikes one as funny, sometimes as awful. What I don't understand is why more people aren't aware of this film, as it definitely one of the most powerful pieces of filmmaking I have ever seen. Aside from a few scattered absurd scenes, the entire thing is chillingly believable. I'm not surprised that Polanski himself played Tarkovsky.
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