MOVIE · 1942

Cat People

DramaFantasyHorrorMysteryRomanceThriller73 min

Irena Dubrovna, a Serbian émigré in Manhattan, marries a kind engineer but believes an ancient curse will turn her into a feline predator if their relationship becomes physical. Simone Simon is Irena, carrying the role with a dreamy reserve that makes her fear hard to separate from fantasy. As her marriage to Oliver (Kent Smith) stalls, his growing closeness with co-worker Alice (Jane Randolph) sharpens the story’s jealousy and unease. Moving through apartments, a zoo, and a psychiatrist’s office, the film threads romance, folklore, and menace around the possibility that Irena’s terror may be delusion, inheritance, or something stalking just out of sight.