But I do prefer the English dub for George Bedar - he's so much appropriately querulous and sad-voiced than the French language version. Those housewarming friends of Trelkovsky's sound more normal, especially that one quacking blonde woman who now is suave in French. The last time I watched my DVD of this film, I played it with the French audio track. I know what you mean about some of the crassly dubbed American voices.

Isn't the wonderful score for this eerie, mysterious and beautiful? I saw it for the first time at a revival house during my Great Cinema Plunge of 1980-1981 and have watched this clever slice of paranoia many times since. Ken, this is one of my big favorites too. It jolts me out of the atmospheric dream world I'd rather be immersed in. Polanski's eye for casting people with unusual and characterful faces is as sharp as ever, but hearing those commonplace voices coming out of those unorthodox faces was like having ice water thrown in my face. Certainly, a case could be made that those braying American voices coming out of the mouths of Trelkovsky's boorish friends is a reflection of how he sees them, but I only found it distracting. Unfortunately, a similar decision to have many members of the film's French supporting cast dubbed (poorly) by American actors doesn't fare nearly as well. At the same time, the incongruousness of the glaringly non-Gallic Shelly Winters, Jo Van Fleet, and Melvyn Douglas only seem to add another layer of wacko to The Tenant’s existing Theater of the Absurd vision of Paris.įrench cinema icon Claude Daupin makes a brief appearance (with Louba Guertchikoff)īut his mellifluous accent is dubbed over with an affectless American voice The clashing of Trelkovsky’s faint Polish accent against all those flat Yankee diphthongs dramatically emphasizes his 'otherness.'. But the overall effect is so discordant it actually feels intentional. I've no idea what motivated Polanski to cast so many American actors in major roles in this Paris-set thriller (likely financial in origin, to secure American distribution or wide release).

El quimérico inquilino by Roland Topor