MUBI

Roman Polanski’s 1968 film remains a classic even for those of us who think the horror genre plagued by a built-in, nagging silliness. After moving into a new apartment, an alarmingly fragile and doll-like Mia Farrow begins to fear that the jovial-yet-creepy old couple next door has weird designs on her unborn baby. Soon she begins to suspect that everyone from her crotchety new doctor to her increasingly jumpy husband is in on the “plot,” and the film turns into a unsettling parable about a woman beset on all sides by a world of smiling, friendly and deeply treacherous men. (Strangely, considering Polanski’s reputation, the film can easily be read as a feminist attack on a society devised to exploit and abuse women.) You probably already know what the “twist” is — which is a shame, since the film sneaks you toward it so beautifully and subtly that you’re left guessing right up to the very end. Depending on your perspective, the last scene is either harrowing or hysterically funny; I’ve always found it a little of both, and the horror of Rosemary’s last choice may take a minute to sink in. With an astonishing cast, beautiful cinematography and a wonderfully unsettling score, “Rosemary’s Baby” may or may not be horror, but it certainly rates as the best film that ever gets stocked in that section at the video store.

One of the best horror films ever made! Rosemary’s Baby is also a very strange movie, insofar as it is thought of as a horror film, because it does not really highlight the conventions of a horror film in any clear way. It could even be argued, as the producer Robert Evans even says, that Rosemary’s Baby is the great horror film with no horror. So why and how is this film able to stay in the mind of the viewer and conjure up those feelings of having seen something really terrifying? There are no shocks in Rosemary’s Baby, no moments where any viewer is likely to jump out of their seat, and the whole movie plays almost like a domestic drama. I think what makes Rosemary’s Baby so good and so scary is what it implies more than what it shows explicitly: 1. That there are “normal” folks practicing satanism and witchcraft in a very modern Manhattan (as opposed to some ancient castle in Europe or something) 2. That these people have enabled Rosemary to become impregnated and give birth to what we are led to believe is the child of Satan and 3. That Rosemary’s desire to become the mother of a child comes to supersede all other worldly considerations in the jaw-dropping final scene. As outragous as some of this may sound, the movie presents it all in such a matter-of-fact way that there is not a moment where the viewer really questions any of it. Everything is played straight for maximum effect.
Roman Polanski is a giant among that generation of filmmakers that emerged in the 60’s and 70’s and I believe that his films, especially this one and his masterpiece Chinatown, hold up better than 99% of the films of that era. He didn’t seem to be as annoyingly, smugly irreverent and ironic and self-referential as many of his peers. His films express a maturity and a level of respect for classic conventions and a willingness to bend those conventions to suit the purpose of the films he was making rather than just for the sake of bending and breaking them. He is a true original, a great filmmaker. And Rosemary’s Baby is a great film!

Ira Levin, upon whose novel Rosemary’s Baby is based, is one of America’s most versatile and successful authors. Many of his stories, books, and plays have been successfully adapted to the screen, running the gamut from comedy ( No Time for Sergeants , 1958) to Nazism ( The Boys from Brazil , 1978), to mystery ( Deathtrap, 1982). Roman Polanski adapted Levin’s novel to a screenplay, for which Robert Redford and Jane Fonda were the first choices.

Krzysztof Komeda, a Polish emigre who often works with Polanski, did the excellent score, and Bill Castle, the veteran producer of many low-quality horror films in addition to this one, makes a cameo appearance. Putting a devil-worship story in the heart of New York was the film’s central stroke of genius because everything that surrounds the tale was so innocuous and normal.

© – ???

What most people find to be a film about the occult, I find to be an extremely hard to watch study of paranoia and the choke hold it progressively claims over it’s victims. The polar opposites of mood, switching from a dire sense of helplessness to ecstatic relief, and then back, is so accurate that I find this movie actually unsettling (a word thrown around too often in the world of cinema.) The main conflict is an internal battle, both physically and metaphysically, within Ms. Farrow’s character. Furthermore, it is more than fitting that the catalyst of her troubles is the child developing within her body. It is her inability to distinguish reality from fantasy, due to the solitude which she continues to dive deeper into. She also questions the world around her as to whether or not it is working with her or against her. The film explores just how powerful the mind can be when you fixate it on something, and poses the question of what if that which you have convinced yourself to be a figment of your imagination was in fact not? A film this psychological is an ambitious attempt, and definitely a hard topic to find a balance between entertainment and obscurity with. The director and his cast greatly succeeded, delivering emotions and human expressions which were more believable than in most films I’ve seen. Of course, there are some obvious flaws, most notably the ending. It seemed as if Polanski just decided quit without offering any resolution which fit in context with the rest of the story. Regardless, rarely will you encounter a movie which is perfect. Polanski does some interesting stuff, more interesting than I think most people care to realize. In my opinion, this is one of the better pieces in the horror / thriller genre – 4 stars.

Rosemary’s Baby is definitely up there with The Exorcist and The Shining on the list of “best of psychological horror/thrillers.” This film is less erotic than Polanski’s earlier works, namely Knife in the Water, Repulsion and The Tenant, but one can still pick up faint traces of it scattered throughout, as well as some clever black comedy, another staple in the majority of Polanski films. The film itself is pretty easy to summarize: a woman gets it on with the dark lord and master, Satan, and thus carries his child.

The performances are nothing short of astounding, as famed independent artist John Cassavetes does a bang up job playing Rosemary’s greedy and naive husband, but Mia Farrow steals the show as Rosemary herself, a woman short on confidence, but high on suspicion. She has every right to be suspicious of what’s going on, form the pains in her stomach to the unusually creepy old couple who live across the hall. I’m a big fan of psychological horror films, especially ones that dabble in the occult, so I had a blast watching this film, and every bit of it works thanks to Polanski’s brilliant direction. With a concept that can be summarized into one sentence he surely makes it worthwhile, as my eyes were glued to the screen for the two hour and sixteen minute running time. Without the use of violence and gore, and even foul language, Polanski creates a sweeping masterpiece, one that I consider to be the magnum opus of his works.

(Originally written November 27, 2008)

To watch a Roman Polanski film is to experience a profound realization. His two masterpieces, Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown, follow characters who desperately look for the answers to the problems of their unimportant lives, but in the process they stumble upon fundamental evils. Jack Nicholson’s private investigator Jake Gittes discovered the inherent corruption and resultant tragedy of the city while Mia Farrow’s Rosemary Woodhouse found that society itself breeds and nurtures evil.

With Rosemary’s Baby in particular, director Roman Polanski turns the tragic journey of the central character into a visceral experience. We as the audience are taken along for the ride with the innocent Rosemary Woodhouse who only wants to live in a brightly-colored apartment with her loving husband and, maybe someday, three children. She seems so ecstatic when she finds out she is pregnant, but her naïve belief in the goodness and kindness of others stops her from realizing that she is not bearing any normal child. The film was released 40 years ago, and its status as a classic horror film is not challenged by those with any sense. It is no secret now that Rosemary is in fact giving birth to a demon child that will help to win the world over for Satan. This all seems so cliché, but this film is not about dry superficial buildup to an exorcism scene (looking at you William Friedkin). It is so much more.

Farrow is at the top of her game here. She has always had a naïve charm. When she says something, we believe her and have the impression that she cannot be fooled or angered by anyone. Her decency shines throughout this entire movie, part of what makes this film so excellent. It’s the conviction with which she plays her part that makes it so difficult for the audience to comprehend that evil could be born of such goodness.

Now, it can become difficult to believe that there can be any human being as clueless as her. Certainly any thinking person would have realized the cruelty and peculiarities around her, but her cluelessness really makes the film in the end. It not only reveals the susceptibility of decent human beings to corruption but also works to emphasize the manipulation of the other characters in her life. Rosemary was likely doomed from the start, but perhaps she would not have gotten into the mess (in other words, not selected by Satan) had she been a little more sharp and a little less accepting of others.

However, as much as I can say about thematically what a brilliant and chilling film this is, words are weak because the execution is what makes this film a masterpiece. His dream sequences are genuinely nightmarish, not merely flashing scary images across the screen for temporary terror’s sake. We genuinely get the sense of Rosemary’s entrapment in her situation, when she is being pinned down for a sedative or stumbling in her apartment hallway. What Rosemary experiences is truly a roller coaster ride, and Polanski makes sure we don’t miss any of it. There are certainly many different parts that go into this film, and without Polanski’s precise direction, such a story would have fallen apart.

Polanski has written and directed what is in essence a very human film because it explores the relationship of humans with evil. Although Polanski never directly addresses how the type of evil in this film holds up in the presence of God (though one of the “witches” in the film chides Rosemary for crying out the name of God in anguish), that’s not the point. What could have easily been framed as a showdown between good and evil becomes a complex investigation the overwhelming presence of evil in our world without offering any real answers.