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The Tenant (1976)

tomatometer

90

Average Rating: 7.8/10
Reviews Counted: 29
Fresh: 26 | Rotten: 3

A rough-edged thriller that lacks the precision of Polanski's best work, but makes up for it with its skillful mounting of paranoia, dread, and dark themes.

80

Average Rating: 6.6/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1

A rough-edged thriller that lacks the precision of Polanski's best work, but makes up for it with its skillful mounting of paranoia, dread, and dark themes.

audience

86

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 9,697

My Rating

Movie Info

Director Roman Polanski casts himself in the lead of the psychological thriller The Tenant. Trelkovsky (Polanski) rents an apartment in a spooky old residential building, where his neighbors -- mostly old recluses -- eye him with suspicious contempt. Upon discovering that the apartment's previous tenant, a beautiful young woman, jumped from the window in a suicide attempt, Trelkovsky begins obsessing over the dead woman. Growing increasingly paranoid, Trelkovsky convinces himself that his

Jul 1, 2003

Paramount Pictures

Cast

All Critics (29) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (27) | Rotten (5) | DVD (12)

It has a humorous tang, underlying the macabre.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
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The film is superbly acted by Mr. Polanski, Mr. Douglas and Miss Winters.

May 9, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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As a film by Polanski, it's unspeakably disappointing.

October 23, 2004 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
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It's an exercise in urban paranoia and mental disintegration that echoes or anticipates everything from Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby to Bitter Moon and The Pianist.

February 3, 2004 Full Review Source: Village Voice | Comment
Village Voice
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The end result is somewhere between Franz Kafka and William Castle, but still worth seeing.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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Poorly received on its release, it has since become a cult fave.

June 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment (1)
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A disturbing and poignant anthology of Roman Polanski's favourite, oppressive themes.

February 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

The film [is] extremely, scarily effective (it is also surprisingly funny).

February 18, 2010 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment (1)
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Although overshadowed by director Roman Polanski's more famous horror efforts... The Tenant is in many ways superior - a haunting, mesmerizing tale of a man's loss of identity and descent into madness.

December 11, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinefantastique | Comment (1)
Cinefantastique

Owing to the very same personal urgency that makes it a masterpiece, it is overwhelmingly solipsistic and ultimately alienating.

September 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | Comment
Antagony & Ecstasy

As the plot escalates into increasingly arbitrary excesses of fantasy and heads for the predictable pay-off, the movie looks more and more like a potboiler.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

The Tenant carries the most shocking double climax in all of cinema.

February 6, 2006 Comment
ColeSmithey.com

The Tenant is one of Roman Polanski's greatest and darkest films.

October 3, 2005 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | Comment (1)
Combustible Celluloid

Polanski directs Polanski in this creepy tale of isolation and bad real estate.

April 3, 2005 Comment (1)
eFilmCritic.com

Nightmarish, disturbing, brilliant Polanski.

October 14, 2004 Comment

The disc is a bare-bones offering, with only the theatrical trailer appearing in addition to the movie.

March 8, 2004 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | Comment
Apollo Guide

Roman Polanski's key error is almost certainly casting himself in the lead, as he is not an adept enough thespian to pull of the challenging transformation of his character.

March 8, 2004 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | Comment
Apollo Guide
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Tenant

I think I know what happened. But I'm not sure. Opening shots of apartment windows are amazing.

May 14, 2007
brooklynspo

Super Reviewer

Roman Polanski makes a good point on over population and the role of the neighbour/community. It's hard to describe really, to call it a physiological thriller seems a bit lazy and reading the synopsis makes it sound a bit rubbish. It's an interesting idea though, full of terror and intrigue. I like the idea of putting

November 17, 2011
SirPant

Super Reviewer

    1. Madame Dioz: She does her washing-up in the middle of the night, and she whistles at the same time!
    – Submitted by Jean M (6 months ago)
    1. Trelkovsky: At what precise moment does an individual stop being who he thinks he is? Cut off my arm. I say, 'Me and my arm.' You cut off my other arm. I say, 'Me and my two arms.' You take out my stomach, my kidneys, assuming that were possible... And I say, 'Me and my intestines.' And now, if you cut off my head... would I say, 'Me and my head' or 'Me and my body'? What right has my head to call itself me? What right?
    – Submitted by Jean M (6 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • The Tenant (Le Locataire) (DE)
  • The Tenant (Le Locataire) (UK)
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