Jonathan Rosenbaum is completely right that "if the remainder of The Tenant were as impressive as the first shot, we conceivably might have had a masterpiece on our hands," a mixture of Rear Window and Touch of Evil.
Because everyone in the film seems to exist solely for his benefit, it’s sometimes easy to brush Trelkovsky off as an egomaniacal loser. [The] film’s actors stand in center frame, staring not only at Trelkovsky but at the spectator as well. They pass judgement, whisper mischievously, and spread their idle gossip. This is the power of Polanski’s image—to so chillingly evoke the self-consciousness and fear of the individual and the pervasive gaze of threatening others.
— Ed Gonzalez (Slant Magazine)
A quiet and inconspicuous man rents an apartment in France where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.