Mia Farrow is magnificent in unsettling film that mixes comedy and horror

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2008)

I was too young to see this movie when it was first shown, and I was not impressed when I finally saw it after a few years had gone by. But having seen it four or five times now, I actually believe it improves with age. It is subtle and low key, and quite slow paced by today's standards. There is far more genuinely horrifying action in Polanski's other Sixties classic Repulsion, which leads me to believe that Rosemary's Baby may actually be viewed better as a black comedy than a true horror film. Many viewers have commented on the light hearted opening, that seems almost like a typical Sixties romantic comedy. The gradual darkening of the story is so subtly done that it's almost imperceptible. A vague feeling of unease, with little in the way of overt violence or horror, starts to permeate the film. There is enough ambiguity in the way events unfold that it's possible to see Rosemary as becoming disconnected from reality and imagining a plot against her. The eccentric neighbors may be no more than a nosy but well meaning old couple, her husband's unexpected success due to the accidental misfortune of a competitor for an important part, the tragic death of a young woman a genuine suicide. Is there any actual proof that these things are more than mere coincidences? Mia Farrow's brilliant performance makes us experience these doubts and fears along with her.
The film is very much a product of its time, the late Sixties. It touched on many ideas and events of a world increasingly chaotic and tumultuous, in ways that audiences born since that era could not relate to without direct experience. It was made at a time in which the Vietnam war was starting to become more controversial, the sexual revolution had begun, but the women's movement and legalized abortion were still in the future, along with anti-war riots and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King. It occupies a place in history as a sort of time capsule of the era, just as momentous and overwhelming changes were in the offing. The " God is dead" controversy that forms much of the background of the story must seem almost quaint to viewers today, but was a major aspect of the film's controversy.
Viewers expecting a shocking and horrific experience will probably be disappointed, but those who can appreciate a slow building, quietly unnerving film will find much to enjoy here. Much is left to the imagination, and it requires active involvement on the viewer's part. It may require patience for those accustomed to more visceral and fast paced movies, but it is well worth taking the time to appreciate.