Overview
A haunting exploration of identity and paranoia unfolds in a Parisian apartment building.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- brooding
- disturbing
- surreal
- late night horror viewing
- cult film marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly recognize the film’s rough-edged execution while praising its mounting paranoia, dread, and dark themes.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Trelkovsky becomes increasingly obsessed with Simone Choule and believes his neighbors are forcing him to repeat her suicide.
The Paris apartment’s rules, hostile neighbors, concierge, and landlord make everyday residence feel like imprisonment.
Trelkovsky interprets the neighbors’ behavior as a coordinated scheme while hallucination and supernatural suggestion undermine certainty.
The timid bureaucrat encounters stringent behavioral rules, intrusive neighbors, and humiliating social rituals in his new home.
Films like The Tenant, and why
Repulsion
shares claustrophobic apartment horror, paranoia, identity destabilization, and ambiguous supernatural dread
Black Swan
shares urban psychological horror, obsessive identity crisis, surreal hallucinations, and escalating alienation
Rosemary's Baby
shares oppressive domestic paranoia, unreliable perception, and a protagonist psychologically consumed by an uncanny environment
Possession
shares body horror, social alienation, grotesque transformation, and bleakly surreal psychological intensity
Movie Details
- Director
- Roman Polanski
- Release Date
- 1976-05-26
- Runtime
- 126 min
- Rating
- 7.6 / 10 (1268)
Cast
- Roman Polanski
- Isabelle Adjani
- Melvyn Douglas
- Jo Van Fleet
- Bernard Fresson
- Shelley Winters
- Lila Kedrova
- Claude Dauphin
- Claude Piéplu
- Rufus
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- JustWatch TV, Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Tenant about?
- A timid Parisian lodger spirals into paranoid terror when his new apartment seems determined to erase his identity and repeat its previous tenant’s fate.
- What is The Tenant like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Tenant as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is The Tenant violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Tenant as mild.
- What did critics think of The Tenant?
- Critics broadly recognize the film’s rough-edged execution while praising its mounting paranoia, dread, and dark themes.
- Which films are like The Tenant?
- Films with a similar feel include Repulsion, Black Swan, Rosemary's Baby, and Possession.
- How long is The Tenant?
- The Tenant runs 126 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Tenant?
- In United States, The Tenant is available to rent or buy from JustWatch TV, Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
