Madness and the Devil

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2010)

Roman Polanski's classic Rosemary's Baby remains not only one of the best horror thrillers I've ever seen, but one of the greatest movies. In the horror genre, one needs to watch The Exorcist to come across a movie that matches the quality of Polanski's masterwork. The more one peers into the past, the more one comes across good horror movies. For all their tameness by modern standards, the truth is these classics are better written, plotted, acted, paced and scored.
The story is by now universally known, having seeped into popular consciousness in all sorts of parodies, homages, spoofs and imitations. Let it just be said that the use of demons and the Devil has seldom been so well used in cinema. Again, one must watch The Exorcist, or perhaps its knock-off The Omen, to see it so it used with novelty and artistic quality.
Mia Farrow plays Rosemary in a very seductive way, that makes it impossible for the viewer not to sympathise with her from the start. She's such a good-natured, happy woman that it's more tragic when she becomes the target of evil forces trying to control her and her pregnancy. John Cassavetes plays her husband, Guy, an apparently average joe, who's darker than she ever imagined. Ruth Gordon plays a chattering, busybody neighbor, a seemingly harmless old lady, secretly scheming against the innocent Rosemary.
Polanski was at the top of his game in 1968 and directed this movie in a very elegant and innovative way. For instance, the movie is bright and colorful. When Rosemary and Guy arrive at their new apartment in the Bramford building, it's a desolate, sinister place, evocative of countless haunted houses of the past. But then they remodel it and it becomes a light, pleasant place to live in. This is one of the many departures from old movies, the idea that horror can happen in the most mundane places, by the most vulgar people.
The score is harmonious and peaceful, with a lullaby as the main theme; it's a far cry from the distorted garbage that poisons so many horror movies today. Rather than highlighting the tension, it lulls the viewer into a sense of peace and safety. It's wonderfully manipulative, as horror should be.
The story develops at a rational place, slowly building on the strangeness around Rosemary, introducing her to a secret world that isolates her from any help. Rosemary grows more helpless as the movie goes on, and it's a joy to watch Farrow descend into terror and despair little by little. I think this was a major improvement on his previous movie, Repulsion, in which Catherine Deneuve's character always seemed a bit crazy from the start.
Although Polanski reached the zenith of film-making with Chinatown, that perfect gem of cinema, Rosemary's Baby stands as one of his best efforts and remains enjoyable and innovative after several decades.