The Tenant
Short description
The Tenant, released in 1976 under the original French title Le locataire, follows Trelkovsky, a quiet and unassuming man who rents an apartment in a Paris building. He learns that the previous occupant, a woman named Simone Choule, tried to kill herself by jumping from the window. The building's residents are unfriendly and set strict rules for how he should behave, and Trelkovsky comes to believe his neighbours are conspiring against him, even suspecting Stella, a young woman he has grown close to. His fixation on the former tenant's fate deepens as he settles into the flat.
Roman Polanski directed and stars as Trelkovsky, working from a screenplay he wrote with Gérard Brach. The cast includes Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Jo Van Fleet, Bernard Fresson and Shelley Winters, with 41 credited performers in all. The film was produced by Andrew Braunsberg for Paramount and Marianne Productions.
It is the eighth of the 23 films Polanski has directed in chronological order, arriving between Chinatown and Tess. The film took about 2 million dollars worldwide, a modest sum for a Paramount release of its length. On IMDb it holds 7.5 out of 10 from around 51,000 votes, on TMDB 7.6 from roughly 1,261 votes. A critics' rating of 8 out of 10 from 39 reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- Philippa Sarda, who composed the music for the film, can be seen in a cameo – he played a man intently watching Trelkovsky in the cinema.
- The idea to use the glass harmonica came to composer Philippa Sarda after he accidentally saw Roman Polanski, while sitting at a restaurant table, mimicking the movements of playing glasses with his fingers.
- Although the film was released in British cinemas without any cuts, the 1986 British video version contained a 'cut': 6 seconds of screen time were removed from the scene where Trelkovsky and Stella are watching a film in the cinema. Specifically, several frames from Robert Clouse's 'Enter the Dragon' (1973) featuring Bruce Lee were deleted. This was because the footage included nunchucks – a weapon officially banned in Europe.
- The film is based on Roland Topor’s novel “The Phantom Tenant” (Le Locataire Chimerique, 1964).
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
