MovieFreak.com - The Tenant DVD Review

Trelkovsky, a quiet and inconspicuous man (Roman Polanski), rents an apartment in France where the previous tenant, a young girl, committed suicide, and begins to suspect his landlord and neighbors are trying to subtly change him into the last tenant so that he too will kill himself.

Roman Polanski’s The Tenant is listed on IMDB as Le Locataire, which obviously makes this a French production, although this detail comes across more clearly, not to mention irritatingly, by comparing the mouth movements of the actors to the dialogue in the soundtrack. Alas, The Tenant is dubbed, though it’s not too big of a distraction to the film. Roman Polanski stars as Trelkovsky, the main character. He plays the role pretty well, and to much surprise he is somewhat convincing in the film’s most disturbing sequence, though I will not give away the scene.

The Tenant is billed as a psychological thriller, but it is not necessarily so. Trelkovsky is the focus of the film, yet he is not a very sympathetic character. He’s friendly for sure, but something about him seems hidden, unknown—which makes him conflicted and mysterious. However, all the film does is follow him around as he interacts with his neighbors, to much demise I might add, and tries a relationship with the girlfriend of the tenant who committed suicide in the apartment. As time passes, and the viewer’s patience clocks down, Trelkovsky turns mad. Strange things begin to happen to him and around the apartment, which drives Trelkovsky to the ultimate low. However, screenwriter Gerard Brach and Roman Polanski, who co-wrote the script, offer no explanation to account for the strange happenings—which doesn’t help the film. I can’t say whether Roland Topor’s novel, which this film is based on, offers any explanations.

On the other hand, composer Philippe Sarde and cinematographer Sven Nykvist contribute their talent to The Tenant. Sarde’s music is haunting and works well for this film. Nykvist’s camera opens the film with a beautiful tracking shot of the entire apartment building; this sequence stands out, and is on par with the scene as Trelkovsky enters the final stage of madness. All I will say is that it involves glass breaking into pieces.

Additionally, and going back to the billing of this film, The Tenant is not a thriller per se. It feels more like a character study. Secondly, the pace moves too slowly. It can also be argued that there is not enough “story” to truly justify a running time of 125 minutes. Roman Polanski plays Trelkovsky quite well, and to a certain degree he directs a decent film. However, The Tenant is essentially a slow-moving film that offers little to no explanation why exactly the central character turns mad. And no, I don’t think the apartment bears some kind of curse. I also don’t believe Trelkovsky’s madness is due to the neighbors. And don’t get me started on the ending—the twist is interesting, but doesn’t work for me.

Paramount presents The Tenant in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. As with Popeye, this transfer fares well considering the age of the film. The print image is mostly clean, but grain and dirt spots do appear in most of the film’s dark scenes. Dark tones and black level are, therefore, not specific. Scratches appear in limited quantity, but have no overall effect on the presentation. Colors are fine. Color detail looks decent. The overall presentation looks the best it possibly can, which is just fine for this film.

Paramount presents The Tenant in English Mono and French Mono. Up front, I think the French Mono sounds richer than the English Mono. It seems as though the English track is dubbed, which is not surprising since the film takes place in France. The dubbing is done accurately and to a fair extent, but some aspects of it are obvious and not well accentuated. The film is limited in its auditory capabilities and dates back to 1976, which is why I think a Mono soundtrack is applicable. Dialog scenes are easy to understand most of the time. The front speakers emit all of the sound, especially a very nice score by Philippe Sarde. Again, the French Mono is richer in sound and quality. Overall, The Tenant sounds alright. It’s not as loud as it could be, but that might be due to the quality of the dubbing.

The only extra is the film’s Theatrical Trailer. You can select to view the film with optional English subtitles. The DVD’s menus are not animated. The 125-minute feature is organized into eighteen chapters.

The Tenant is a decent film in parts, but ultimately moves too slowly and betrays the "psychological thriller" tagline on the DVD cover. Paramount’s video and audio presentations are decent. With that said, rent this film for Polanski only.

THE MOVIE	5
THE VIDEO	7
THE AUDIO	5
THE EXTRAS	1
OVERALL (not an average)	5