The Coens have acknowledged several cinematic inspirations for "Barton Fink". Chief among these are three films by Polish-French film-maker Roman Polanski: "Repulsion" (1965), "Cul-de-Sac" (1966), and "The Tenant" (1976). These films employ a mood of psychological uncertainty coupled with eerie environments that compound the mental instability of the characters. Barton's isolation in his room at the Hotel Earle is frequently compared to that of Trelkovsky in his apartment in "The Tenant". Ethan said regarding the genre of "Barton Fink": "t is kind of a Polanski movie. It is closer to that than anything else." By coincidence, Polanski was the head of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1991, where "Barton Fink" premiered. This created an awkward situation. "Obviously", Joel Coen said later, "we have been influenced by his films, but at this time we were very hesitant to speak to him about it because we did not want to give the impression we were sucking up".