Very Slow With A Silly Ending

Rating: 5/10 (1 November 2005)

This is a highly regarded supernatural thriller possibly down to the fact how credible it all seems . Young couple Rosemary and David Woodhouse buy an apartment in New York City then Rosemary receives the happy news that she's pregnant . Being a caring community everyone in the apartment block makes sure she's getting the best natural diet , I mean Rosemary is pregnant and these people can't do enough for her . What lovely people but this makes the movie a rather sugary affair as the neighbours goodness becomes rather suffocating . Only the dimmist audience member won't be pointing out to themselves that these neighbours must have a totally ulterior purpose in making sure Rosemary is getting the best care possible ....
**** SPOILERS *****
... And indeed they do have an ulterior purpose as it turns out that Rosemary is giving birth to young Master Satan . I don't mean that metaphorically , I mean that literally ! and the whole idea is bloody stupid when you think about it . All these Satanists living in the same block . Good job they're all the same age and have the same social standing to be able to live in the same block as does thespian David . Yeah I know this is all a conspiracy but does it seem credible ? Like many of these type of movies if you don't believe in the physical embodiment of the Devil ( Or indeed Jesus ) then it's impossible to believe that Satan would get a mortal woman pregnant
Another problem I had is that the audience are left in little doubt that this is a truly supernatural tale . Wouldn't it have been a far better movie if Polanski had made everything ambiguous ? By that I mean having the audience think that Rosemary is deluded then pull the rug out under their feet but while I was watching there's little doubt in my mind that Rosemary is the protagonist in a Hellish conspiracy
I will praise the story for making the point that just because someone is in league with the devil this doesn't necessarily make them a bad person , after all how many people commit atrocities against mankind in the name of the horned beast ( God is a different matter entirely ) but for the most part ROSEMARY'S BABY is a very slow film with an incredibly stupid ending