“Rosemary’s Baby” is one of Roman Polanski’s best films and a first-rate, faithful adaptation of the Ira Levin novel which tells the story of witchcraft on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. It’s basically a spin on the Doctor Faustus tale, but with a decidedly 1960′s sensibility.
Rosemary (a superb Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (equally well cast John Castavettes) move into an atmospheric and beautifully detailed, four-room apartment in the elephantine Branford Apartment house on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (actually it is the Dakota that is used for the exteriors), but shortly learn that it has a dark history of suicide, black happenings and witchcraft.
When a young neighbor (gorgeous Victoria Vetri) commits suicide shortly afterward by jumping from the window of her apartment, the Woodhouses encounter their nosy neighbors, an elderly couple Minnie (Ruth Gordon) and Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer) whose nasal brayings they have previously only heard through the wall. Soon Minnie and Roman have imposed themselves on the young couple’s life and although Rosemary finds it distasteful, Guy seems to take a peculiar liking to them, seeing them (as Rosemary believes) as parental figures. But the truth is more sinister. The elderly couple and their cronies are actually a coven of witches and Guy agrees to allow the Devil to father Rosemary’s baby in exchange for success in his career. He does this by deceiving Rosemary and allowing her to be used in a ritual while drugged.
Oh, what fun this movie is! One of my favorite movies of all times! Mia Farrow as Rosemary has the proper gamine look and a fragility, yet interestingly, she is also strong and feisty, taking things into her own hand and becoming a heroine of sorts. Castavettes is wonderfully cast as the husband — brooding, handsome, sexy and at times almost sinister with his eyes staring out from beneath wild brows — almost diabolical. Ruth Gordon is delicious as Minnie and won an Academy Award, if I’m not mistaken — her toreador pants, the bracelets jangling on her wrists, her ingratiating yet obnoxious manner are all perfect. Even the bit parts are cast with wonderful old character actors like Patsy Kelly and Maurice Evans. The casting is fortuitous all the way round.
Add to that a wonderful script, sticking closely to the novel; great off-kilter camera angles; dream sequences; incredible sets (that apartment is to die for!); and then the whole 60′s thread, even incorporating in a Time Magazine cover that proclaimed “Is God Dead”; and you have a top-notch film. It’s very understated, not a blood-and-cheap-thrills horror flick.
The only thing that truly annoys me is that tendency of the 60′s to make the “older generation” the bad guys and youth the heroes, as they sort of do here, since all the witches and warlocks are actually quite old. But there’s such wit about all of it, I don’t quibble. It’s a wonderful touch to have the respected doctor, the Japanese shutterbug, the benign-looking gossipy little old ladies and an aging warlock, a mousy dentist — all members of this sinister cult and retaining their colorful New York personalities. The characters are richly detailed, believable and alive, and their immersion in everyday stuff as the horror enfolds around them is wonderful.
Cast
- Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse
- John Cassavetes as Guy Woodhouse
- Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet
- Sidney Blackmer as Roman Castevet / Steven Marcato
- Maurice Evans as Hutch
- Ralph Bellamy as Dr. Abraham Sapirstein
- Charles Grodin as Dr. Hill
- Angela Dorian as Terry Gionoffrio
- Emmaline Henry as Elise Dunstan
- Hanna Landy as Grace Cardiff
Tags: classic, Rosemary's Baby