The Cinema of Roman Polanski

Rating: 9/10 (10 February 2005)

Rosemary's Baby (1968) was a film that's based upon a best selling novel written by Ira Levin. Unlike most novels that were made into movies, this film follows the book very closely. They're very similar except Roman Polaski adds an aura of paranoia and isolation to the film. Mia Farrow stars as a young bride who's dealing with her marriage and her husband (an aspiring actor played by John Cassavetes) who's looking for the right apartment for the young couple. They find the right place in an old complex that caters to older couples. John falls in love with the odd elderly neighbors and becomes friends whilst Mia is a little leery at first but becomes friends with them as well. But when a series of strange occurrences that seem to benefit John and the weird homemade brew the neighbor women bring Mia to drink when they learn about her pregnancy gives her second thoughts about the new apartment and their ever so friendly elderly neighbors.
When Mia begins to hear strange sounds and waking up during a very bad dream drives her to the brink of madness. The isolation she feels because of the age differences of her neighbors, the pregnancy and John's new attitude towards religion and life in general pushes her further and further. Soon she learns about the awful truth about the tenants in her building from an old friend (who's illness and death drives Mia batty). She tries to leave the circle of her husband and neighbors but she realizes no matter where she goes they always manage to find her. By the end of the film she's too far gone and can do nothing more but accept her fate and learn to live with it.
Classic horror. Paranoia and the occult has never been captured like this before. Roman Polanski redefined the genre with this movie and it's success has catapult him even further up the Hollywood charts. That is until personal tragedy brings him back down to reality.
Highly recommended.