Rosemary's Baby (1968, dir. Roman Polanski)

Reflections from a Young Movie-goer

     After watching and loving Roman Polanski's 1965 psychological horror Repulsion, I was more than excited to see his more well known film Rosemary's Baby. Its a title frequently thrown around when the subject of “best horror” comes up, along with the likes of The Shining, The Exorcist and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, all three of which I thoroughly enjoyed. Horror is perhaps one of the most versatile (and definitely visceral) genres in cinema, as well as one of the most accessible. Its role is to play on the common-held fears of mankind. Therefore it is one of the most inclusive modes of storytelling. One could argue that there are many other types of film which do a similar thing, but, to me, horror is the most profound. Horror can be loud or quiet, terrifyingly abstract or dreadfully real, political or personal. It gives the film maker an excuse to explore their inner-most selves without seeming self-indulgent. The more we explore the dark and depraved world through the lens, the more we can see its depth and beauty in real life. Furthermore fear is active as an emotion, it doesn't need an enormous intellect to be understood but it can lead one into deep thought. Horror is also a response to every other genre. Take Ben Wheatley's Kill List, for instance, which starts out as a socially realistic domestic drama before taking a complete turn into horror. Rosemary's Baby does a similar thing but with much more nuance.

Its plot follows a young couple, Rosemary played by Mia Farrow and Guy played by John Cassavetes, who move into an old apartment in New York city. A friend of theirs, called Hutch, warns them against moving in to the apartment and tells them about its sordid history. Their neighbours include a nosy and eccentric elderly couple whom they unintentionally start socialising with. The elderly couple start involving themselves a lot in the young couple's lives, giving Rosemary a charm containing “Tannis root” and, on one night, a dessert to eat when they're planning on conceiving a child. After noting that the dessert has a strange undertaste, Rosemary passes out and dreams she is raped by a devil as all of her neighbours, standing naked, look on. From here on a number of complications start to arise. As the due date, June 28^th 1966 (hint hint hint) approaches, her health deteriorates and she falls into madness, learning that her neighbours are possibly witches who wish to take her baby for Satanic purposes.

The film works as a horror because it keeps the audience questioning Rosemary's speculations and her perspective; Is it going to be a psychological or a supernatural horror? I find films almost always scarier when the viewer is uncertain as to what they are actually scared of. This is something I've explored in other reflections (see Videodrome and Under the Skin reviews). Though I didn't find it nearly as scary or meaningful as Repulsion, which is far more visceral, raw and psychologically shocking as a horror film. The eeriness of Rosemary's Baby lies in its absurdism, the bizarre lurking beneath the every day. But, overall, it has far less effect today than the other's punchy realism. Its higher budget and bigger story roots it more in the 60s, and this makes many of the dramatic and comic aspects of the plot fail because of their datedness. Yet, with many of the narrative tropes of horror combined with the aesthetics of a drama, it has an impressive sophistication in its plot, drawing more on the eery rather than the scary. This is what gives it its nuance in comparison to something like Kill List, which channels one genre then the other.

There are many similarities in the progression between Repulsion to Rosemary's Baby and Jean Cocteau's two films The Blood of a Poet and Orphée. The director has explored similar themes, but their first is a lot more weird and visceral (almost more so for its age and lower budget), while the second has a bigger budget, a wider story and is more rooted in the canon of popular film. I think that both films for both directors are good in different ways, but in both instances I got more out of their first films.

But there were several parts to Rosemary's Baby I really enjoyed, which all stick out against the datedness of some of the other parts. The use of space and lighting in all the interior shots was incredibly atmospheric, adding more to the sense of eeriness than most of the characters. The visual motif of one room viewed from another. The sound of a ticking clock. All of these were utilised to similar effect in Repulsion, and are developed perfectly here. Polanski's approach to shooting interiors must have influenced Stanley Kubrick in The Shining in some way. Another performance I really liked was Guy's, which paralleled the uncanniness of the apartment through both his distance and his familiarity. The notion of the bizarre lurking underneath the everyday is most expressed through the apartment and Guy, drawing attention to the status of marriage and the home. Polanski is really exploring how these can turn against the woman, as well as questioning maternal duty. There is an interesting subtext to the film, which makes repeat viewings much desirable. At least Rosemary's Baby has this over Repulsion, which one can understand more completely the first time around.

Usually I'm not too keen on remakes, unless they are also reinventions. I was sad to hear that Nicolas Roeg's masterpiece Don't Look Now is being remade, which, if this were to happen, would lose a lot of its power. Yet, I feel as if I would welcome a remake of Rosemary's Baby, if put in the right hands. This is mainly because I felt the effectiveness of the plot against its datedness was jarring in places. As I have said before, some films attain a vintage quality with age where their oldness becomes charming. But in the case of this film, I think it tarnishes some of its desired effect. The most recent film I could think of which bears some resemblance is Lars Von Trier's Antichrist, which is definitely worth checking out for those interested in seeing something that explores similar themes of madness, marriage and maternal grief. Its also quite scary.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PewtQsgN5uo