Rosemary's Baby (12 June 1968)
directed by Roman Polanski
starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Victoria Vetri, Patsy Kelly, Elisha Cook Jr., Emmaline Henry, Charles Grodin, Hope Summers
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MPAA rating: Studio: William Castel Productions, Paramount Pictures Script: Roman Polanski Based on the book by: Ira Levin Music: Krzystztof Komeda Running time: 136 minutes Tags: devils; Drama; Horror; novel adaptation; pregnancy; rituals; satanism; witchcraft Tactical strength: [8/10]
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Guy (John Cassavetes) and Rosemary (Mia Farrow) Woodhouse lease a new New York apartment in a building that has a history of witchcraft and child killings. They blow off the history, reasoning that those events took place at the turn of the century (i.e. 1900s) and those types of things just don't happen in modern times. Rosemary redecorates the apartment, and Guy, an actor, works on getting his next role. The couple soon meet their neighbors the Castevets, Minnie (Ruth Gordon) and Roman (Sidney Blackmer). Minnie, although very friendly, comes off to Rosemary as very nosey and pushy. Minnie pushes her way into the Woodhouse apartment, comments on the redecorating, and asks the prices of the new furniture. But Guy really likes Royal, who seems to have deep, personal connections to just about everyone in the entertainment industry.
At first after moving into the apartment, Guy has a hard time getting new parts, but suddenly he gets a lucky break when another actor suddenly loses his sight and the director calls Guy to take on the part. To celebrate his success, Guy suggests that he and Rosemary have a baby. Guy sets up a romantic dinner with just the right mood, and just as you sense the special moment has arrived, Minnie rings the doorbell. She has brought a dessert that she feels she must share with the Woodhouses. After eating the dessert, Rosemary gets dizzy and passes out. Guy carries her to the bed, and Rosemary has ghoulish dreams of having sex with a demonic figure. When she wakes up the next morning, Rosemary has scratches on her back. Guy explains that he was just so excited to make a baby, that he wet ahead and had sex with her while she lay unconscious and a snagged fingernail caused the scratches.
Sure enough, Rosemary gets pregnant, and everyone seems happy about the upcoming baby -- maybe a bit too happy and to eager to help. Minnie and Roman insist that Rosemary give up her regular doctor (Charles Grodin) and change to the doctor of the celebrities, Dr. Abraham Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy). Dr. Sapirstein has Rosemary take a "vitamin drink" that Minnie makes for her every day. Minnie also gives Rosemary a special talisman to wear that contains a smelly herb. Rosemary's friend Hutch (Maurice Evans) looks up the herb and its uses -- mainly for witchcraft. Hutch shares his suspicions with Rosemary and provides her with several books about witchcraft. After reading the books, Rosemary begins to believe that everyone -- Guy, the Castevets, and even Dr. Sapirstein -- belong to a witches' coven that wants to use her baby's blood for a satanic ritual. Through the development of the plot, we don't know if Rosemary has discovered the truth about her husband and neighbors, or if she has just taken a bunch of coincidental information and gone a bit over the deep end. Although we suspect the satanic conclusion, we don't have enough information to rule out insanity as an explanation.
Rosemary's Baby creates a very creepy film that builds to a frenetic pitch toward the end through a clever arrangement of finding evil in everyday events such as dinners with the neighbors, conversations in the laundry room, and doctor's visits. Roman Polanski carefully threads scenes of everyday events so that the movie could end satisfactorily with an insane Rosemary sent to an asylum or with her discovery of a coven of witches living in her building. This tension between the two possibilities builds to a psychological climax without resorting to blood, gore, or even sudden scares. The creepy nature of the film also works in a timeless way that's just effective today, over thirty years later. Sure, today Rosemary would buy her curtains from WalMart or Target rather than making them herself, but the same situation could happen to anyone moving into an apartment building.
Much of the success in the psychological tension comes from the performances of the leading actresses Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon. Farrow has a natural innocence and accepting nature on screen. Although we start to become suspicious long before Rosemary, Farrow's portrayal doesn't make us believe she's naive as much as a good-hearted person who wants to think the best of everyone. Ruth Gordon, who won the best-supporting actress Oscar for her performance, plays the nosy neighbor so well that we have a hard time believing that she could have any deeper motivation than fulfilling her character's need to butt into other people's business.
The DVD has a few interviews with the producers and Roman Polanski, but doesn't add much value to the overall product. In fact, I would say that after hearing Mia Farrow's interview from around the time of the filming, that I would have to give almost all the credit for her success to Polanski. In the interview she comes off as a peacenik hippie just going with the flow and wishing for world peace, so it's hard to attribute much intelligence to her as an actress.
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