Rosemary's Baby

"Rosemary's Baby" is a knockout of a thriller, a perfect example of visual storytelling, it keeps you on edge, you're not quite sure what is happening when it's happening, you know something is up, something is not right, but you just aren't sure what that something is. Could it be as exactly horrific as what Rosemary and we think it is, or is it something much worse? For those of you who know the ending, you know, it's worse. That's usually the way things play out in a film directed by Roman Polanski, a man who has lived through real horrors in his life, someone who would have perfect reason to be suspicious and not trust the people around him.

"Rosemary's Baby" was the first American film directed by Polanski after European success with films like "Knife in the Water", and "Repulsion". The film was originally set to be directed by William Castle, who was mostly known for schlocky b-movie tactics like in "The Tingler" where he implanted shockers in a movie theatre to make people jump up every time something scary happened. The studio, lead by a young producer named Robert Evans rejected Castle as director, but he stayed on to produce the movie. Evans instead wooed Polanski to Hollywood after being impressed with his early films. Polanski was a young auteur, with a personal vision, and the film lent itself to his sensibilities.

The film based on a novel by Ira Levine, tells of a young married couple Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes), who rent an old Gothic apartment in New York called The Bramford. The Bramford has a bit of a haunted history we learn from the couple's friend Hutch (Maurice Evans), but Rosemary and Guy think of it merely as old stories or folktales, but soon enough tragedy does strike the building. A young woman who Rosemary briefly meets, commits suicide outside the apartments. She was being taken care of by the Woodhouses' next door neighbours, an odd elderly couple Minnie and Roman Castavetes (played by Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer). We know the Castavetes lived right next door, because Rosemary and Guy could hear them through their thin bedroom wall, which is a device Polanski would incorporate throughout the film.

Pretty soon the Castevetes become very friendly to the Woodhouses', they invite them over to their home, and they enter their lives as surrogate parents even without really being asked. Pretty soon things start getting a little strange; suddenly Guy, a working actor gets a big break when he wins a major role after the original actor cast in it mysteriously goes blind. After feeling like he's been rejecting Rosemary, he suddenly wants to have a baby. Rosemary is elated by the news, but on the night they decide to conceive, she passes out, perhaps drugged by a chocolate dessert made by Minnie. She has a strange dream, and is awoken with mysterious scratches on her back. Guy admits, even though she was passed out, he didn't want to miss baby night, which suggests she was violated without her knowing.

But soon, the strange night is forgotten, as Rosemary gets the news that she is pregnant, she is delighted wover the fact that she is going to be a mommy, but the strange things have only just begun. Roman and Minnie take it upon themselves to help Rosemary with her pregnancy, even referring her to their own doctor (Ralph Bellamy). Minnie concocts a special drink for Rosmary with her own special herbs, something that was prescribed from the doctor. But she falls ill, soon Rosemary suspects the baby is in danger, and she thinks everyone around her isn't what they seem including her husband.

Rosemary's pregnancy turns into a story of paranoia between a mother who is only trying to protect her baby and everyone around her who she thinks his hurting her. Polanski puts us in Rosemary's shoes, we know as much as she knows, we can understand what she is feeling, pretty soon we are as paranoid as she is. Everyone seems to be playing a part, and Rosemary is the audience member, she seems to be caught in a world of make believe where nothing seems to be real.

What I loved about "Rosemary's Baby" is how every element brought into the world of the film is utilized, Polanski doesn't throw anything away once introduced, such as the hearing through the walls of the apartment. Through the walls, we hear half conversations between Minnie and Roman, not always everything but just enough to keep us interested in the mystery. It's used later when Guy leaves the apartment, then suddenly we hear a doorbell ring, indicating he's in cahoots with the strange couple.

There's also the use of the herbs Minnie gives Rosemary, she makes her wear a necklace which contains a smelly concoction known as tanus root, this was the same necklace that was given to the girl who committed suicide, and the root itself, Rosemary learns is directly linked to a coven of witches.

The film reminded me of Polanski's earlier thriller "Repulsion" where he introduced things like cracks on a sidewalk, and a razor blade that would play bigger parts in the film as it moved along. Polanski has that way of introducing something in a subtle way, planting it in our head almost subliminally without us knowing it will be used again in a bigger way.

The tone of "Rosemary's Baby" struck me as darkly comic, it starts off as a pleasant all-American young couple love story, but then it's tattered in a macabre tale of witches and Satan worshipers. The villains in the film are usually the ones who fill it with a dose of humor, this particularly comes from Ruth Gordon as Minnie who is the real nosy neighbor from hell, the film becomes somewhat a comedy of errors whenever she appears, and sometimes with her equally off balance friend Laura-Louise (Patsy Kelly). It should be noted that no matter how dark Polanski can get, he doesn't forget his sense of humor.

The ending of the film itself although devastating, is also grotesquely comic. We do find out what has become of Rosemary's Baby and all the usual suspects of the conspiracy are there in one room, the scene itself is so far from reality it becomes relatively absurd. The ending probably join "Psycho" as one of the most notorious twists in the horror genre, and probably one of the most well known, yet knowing how it all comes together does not diminish the real artistic vision of the piece.

"Rosemary's Baby" is such a fascinating piece of filmmaking, it works as a piece of artistry about layers, every bit is peeled away with precision, until we are left with the core of the mystery, it's horrifying, but we are delighted by what has been revealed to us.