Best lead performance in Polanski's "Apartment Trilogy"?

Deneuve -

By the way, there's a great actor "trick" in Polanski's films - that often comes out of his writing - and that's to make his central character (or one of his central characters at least) attracted to the very circumstances they are trying to avoid.

In Deneuve's case "dressing up, because she WANTS to be violated" (how offensive is THAT idea in 2021, um), Farrow's knowing the truth and acquiescing at the end, and Polanski himself choosing the .......I've said this before but the influence of his screenwriter - even in things they didn't collaborate on - Gerard Brach influenced so many things Polanski did and this is one of them and it's one of his most brilliant devices.

It crops up outside this trilogy too ......the Peter Coyote character losing power and liking it being relinquished in Bitter Moon, Faye Dunaway in a consensual, incestuous relationship with the John Huston character in Chinatown (how offensive is THAT idea in 2021, um), the Mathieu Amalric losing control and power (and liking it!) character in Venus in Fur.......in his Macbeth - there's a very clear link between Lady Macbeth going so far she loses her mind and that Macbeth's cheerlessness are connected, like a mutual toxicity that feeds off each other (which is a brilliant reading of the text, Joel Coen should copy)..........and they like it so much it builds to a hysteria.

He didn't do this as much later but when he did it - acting in his pictures worked on a deeper level - regardless of the actor. I always talk about how certain actors - great actors even - can't play "self loathing" really well..........well if Polanski wanted you to play self-loathing, he'd add this "attracted to what's hurting them" element in the script rather than trusting the actor to get their on their own.

(Or very consciously he would remove the self loathing/judgment component entirely in the case of Deneuve in Repulsion who is lacking self-awareness to understand anything as she has been written)

Macbeth: Madness........deep sadness......ominous sexuality......despair had never been so intoxicating, in Shakespeare at least!

Farrow!!

Farrow, though Polanski is a very funny, compelling lead himself.