In a small flat in London live two sisters, Helen and Carol. They are very different from each other - Helen has an affair with a married man, Carol is reserved manicurist. When Helen takes a trip to the sea together with her lover, Carol is left alone. She cannot live alone, she loses control and is unable to work. She closes up in the apartment, tormented with sexual nightmares, has delusions (eg. a lot of spiders) - symptoms typical of schizophrenia. When a friend wants to help her, she gruesomely kills him, as well as a landlord - in both cases using a razor. When Helen returns her sister is at the verge of mental and physical collapse.
Polanski movie filmed in England, is a study of schizophrenia with an excellent role of Catherine Deneuve, offering a dense, impenetrable, almost claustrophobic atmosphere. Imagination of the heroine mixes with reality. This sensational material constitutes a psychological drama, almost documentary image of the heroine’s disease. There are no comments, no analysis of the events, everything is shown from the perspective of the main character, a lonely, fragile woman.