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Credits

Director: Roman Polanski Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmore, Ralph Bellamy, Charles Grodin Screenplay: Roman Polanski Country: USA

Based on the Ira Levin novel of the same name, Mia Farrow stars as the titular Rosemary, who, along with husband Guy (John Cassavetes), move into their first apartment together in New York City. It's all like a dream come true for the couple, great place, great people, but as things slowly unravel, Rosemary descends into a deep state of paranoia, fearing that the building's Satanic past may have come full circle around her and focused its attention on her yet to be born child.

The film certainly isn't your conventional horror film, and tonally different to other occult horror heavyweights such as The Omen (which is the closest to Rosemary's Baby in terms of story elements and themes) and The Exorcist, but while this may come across initially as being rather jarring, the film's progression makes way for an extremely gratifying downward spiral into what becomes easily one of the best psychological horror experiences on film. What starts out looking like a Doris Day film ends with one of the most quietly disturbing finales the genre has ever put forward.

The film is nowhere near as timeless as The Exorcist, and probably dated worse than the original Omen, but that said, the film's actual construction is well and truly ahead of it's own time though there are elements, predominantly the performances, that make Rosemary's Baby show it's age. Word was that Roman Polanski stayed incredibly faithful to the novel itself and this may have been the only (and it's debatable as to whether this really is) detrimental factor to the whole production. Large amounts of dialogue are fairly unrealistic, you find yourself sitting there thinking "Who speaks like that?!", but it's one of those instances where the dialogue would have looked great on paper and probably read fine in the novel. It may also have something to do with Mia Farrow's performance and Polanski's insistence on using obvious, slightly over the top characters.

Mia Farrow, though captivating throughout the whole piece, plays the part of Rosemary as though caught in a constant state of dreaming. Farrows airy performance early on in the piece paves the way for a very effective descent into delusional paranoia, and her innocence in the role leads to a number of "Oh no" moments throughout (though featured more prominently in the latter half). She really shines in a scene set inside a phone booth. Cassavetes is great as the struggling New York actor, and pulls off some of the subtleties extremely well. When Guy pulls away from Rosemary after feeling the baby kicking, you can tell exactly what's going through his head, and his performance throughout the film is perfect. The Castavets are also a genuinely sinister presence in spite of their external appearances and characterisations.

The film plays out fairly predictably for the most part. I doubt too many people expect the film to be so light in tone early on, but once the ball starts rolling it's fairly easy to see where certain events are leading. There are a number of surprising moments that keep you guessing, and as with all films like this, it's always fun trying to guess who's who and how their character is connected.

Technically the film is as proficient as any. Polanski manages to balance out the execution of particular shots, perfectly balancing the surreal with the mundane. The surrealistic nature of Rosemary's dream sequence sticks out like a gaping wound, but it works so perfectly amidst the unnerving quiet of the shots surrounding it. The progressive use of handheld camera techniques help heighten the sense of paranoia and tension, creating some truly effective (albeit some of them brief) moments throughout the film. It's also interesting to note that in the early stages of the film, the handheld evokes a much more loving, happy couple, home movie feel, but in an undetectable manner becomes something far more sinister.

There's also a making of documentary entitled Mia and Roman, that was recorded largely on set using what appears to be an 8mm camera, and featuring narration by Roman Polanski and Mia Farrow. It's an interesting watch for the budding film maker, but the nature of the narration (particularly Farrow's) is a little dry and ambling for those simply interested in the film.