Le locataire [1976]

Country of Origin: USA / France
Year of Production: 1976
Running Times: 125 mins
Format: Eastmancolor     35mm
Ratio:
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: Marianna Films / Marianne Productions S.A.
Producer: Andrew Braunsberg
Associate Producers: Hercules Bellville, Alain Sarde
Executive Production Manager For Paramount: Lindsley Parsons Jr [uncredited]
Production Manager: Marc Maurette
Unit Managers: Alain Depardieu, Juliette Toutain

SCRIPT
Script: Gérard Brach, Roman Polanski
Novel: Roland Topor

DIRECTION
Director: Roman Polanski
Assistant Director: Marc Grunebaum
2nd Assistant Directors: Jean-Jacques Aublanc, Jean-Pierre Poussin

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Sven Nykvist
Camera Operator: Jean Harnois
Assistant Camera: François Catonné
Stills: Bernard Prim

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Françoise Bonnot
Assistant Editor: Jacques Audiard

MUSIC
Music: Philippe Sarde
Conductors: Carlo Savina, Hubert Rostaing

SOUND
Sound Mixer: Jean-Pierre Ruh
Boom Operator: Louis Gimel
Sound Re-Recordist: Jean Nény
Sound Editor: Michèle Boëhm

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Didier Lavergne
Hair: Ludovic Paris
Costume Designer: Jacques Schmidt
Wardrobe: Mimi Gayo

VISUAL EFFECTS
Optical Effects: Jean Fouchet

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Production Designer: Pierre Guffroy
Art Directors: Claude Moesching, Albert Rajau
Set Dresser: Eric Simon
Property Master: Raymond Lemoigne

MISCELLANEOUS
Continuity: Sylvette Baudrot
Dialogue Director: Robert Rietty
Production Secretary: Simone Escoffier
Unit Publicist: Walter Alford

LOCATIONS
Locations: Paris, France

CASTING
Casting: Catherine Vernoux

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 [neighbour]
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 neighbour]
Florence Blot [Madame Zy]
Louba Chazel (real name: Louba Guertchikoff) [wife at accident]
Jacques Chevalier [patron]
Jacky Cohen [Stella's friend]
Alain David (real name: David Gabison) [witness at accident]
Bernard Donnadieu [bar waiter]
Alain Frérot [begger]
Raoul Guylad [priest]
Eva Ionesco [Madame Gaderian's daughter]
Gérard Jugnot [office clerk]
Héléna Manson [head nurse]
Maïté Nahyr [Lucille]
André Penvern [cafe waiter]
Gerard 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]
Albert Delpy [neighbour - uncredited]
Alain Sarde [peeping tom - uncredited]

Trelkovsky rents an apartment in France and learns that previous tenant committed suicide. He starts to suspect that his new landlord and neighbours are manipulating him, trying to make him kill himself too. But how much of this is real, and how much of it is in Trelkovsky's imagination?

Polanski's under-rated masterpiece, Le locataire is a strange, upsetting film whose horrors are entirerly psychological. Revolving around fantastic performances from Polanski and the ever stunning Isabelle Adjani and steeped in a dank and miserable atmosphere, the film is a triumph of melancholia, a downbeat and oppressive exercise in paranoia and oppression.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Paramount Pictures
DVD Distributor: Paramount [08676]

CENSORSHIP HISTORY

Australia
Rating: M

Finland
Rating: K-18

Norway
Rating: 18

UK
Rating: 18

USA
Rating: R

1976
Cannes Film Festival, France
Golden Palm [Roman Polanski] - nominated

1977
César Awards, France
Meilleurs décors [Pierre Guffroy] - nominated

1976
May
26: France – theatrical release

June
11: USA – theatrical release

October
8: Finland – theatrical release

2003
July
1: USA - DVD release [Paramount [08676]]

No One Does It to You Like Roman Polanski.

Hyresgästen - Swedish title
L'inquilino del terzo piano - Italian title
Leieboeren - Norwegian title
Lokator - Polish title
Der Mieter - German title
El quimérico inquilino - Spanish title
The Tenant – UK / US title
Vuokralainen - Finnish title

SEE ALSO
One Hour Photo [2002]
Persona [1966]
Repulsion [1965]
Rosemary's Baby [1968]

MAGAZINES

American Cinematographer vol.81 no.4 [April 2000] p.152 [USA]
illustrated article

Camera Obscura no.43 [September 2000] pp.1-43 [USA]
illustrated article

Cinefantastique vol.5 no.2 [Autumn 1976] pp.22-23, 29 [USA]
illustrated review [by David Bartholomew]

Cinefantastique vol.5 no.3 [Winter 1976] pp.4-7, 30 [USA]
illustrated article

Cineforum no.163 [March 1977] pp.226-234 [Italy]
article

Cinema Journal vol.20 no.2 [Spring 1981] pp.63-73 [USA]
article

Écran no.49 [July 1976] pp.52-53 [Canada]
review

Film Français no.1606 [2 January 1976] p.11 [France]
credits

Film Score Monthly vol.6 no.3 [March 2001] p.35 [USA]
illustrated soundtrack review

Filmcritica no.274 / 275 [April / May 1977] pp.181-182 [Italy]
review

Films and Filming vol.23 no.1 [October 1976] pp.31-32 [UK]
illustrated credits, review [by Gordon Gow]

Films Illustrated vol.6 no.61 [September 1976] pp.5-6 [UK]
review

Guia de Filmes no.67/69 [January / June 1977] p.19 [Brazil]
credits, synopsis, review

Hollywood Reporter vol.241 no.49 [18 June 1976] pp.3, 6 [USA]
credits, review

Image et Son no.308 [September 1976] pp.105-107
review

The Listener vol.95 no.2473 [2 September 1976] pp.279-280 [UK]
review

The Listener vol.119 no.3064 [26 May 1988] p.40 [UK]
review

Monthly Film Bulletin vol.43 no.512 [September 1976] [UK]
credits, synopsis, review

Positif no.185 [September 1976] pp.65-67 [France]
review

Screen International no.20 [24 June 1976] p.43 [UK]
credits

Screen International no.52 [4 September 1976] p.32 [UK]
review

Sight and Sound vol.45 no.2 [Spring 1976] p.84 [UK]
article

Sight and Sound vol.45 no.4 [Autumn 1976] p.253 [UK]
review

Technicien du Film no.238 [15 June 1976] p.19 [France]
review

Variety 2 June 1976 p.16 [USA]
credits, review

KEYWORDS

apartments, book into film, hallucinations, obsession, paranoia, revenge, suicide, surrealism, transvestitism