"It's alive, it's moving"

Rating: 9/10 (30 May 2016)

Is it too soon to sing Roman Polanski's praises as a director? His 1968 feature, his first American production, Rosemary's Baby cements him at the forefront of true auteurs. Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes join with their odd chemistry to expose the deterioration of a couple who moves into a Gothic style apartment in New York City with an unsavory history. Utilizing exceptional spatial relationships, Polanski weaves a near-perfect psychological horror movie for the ages.
Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes) are a young couple ready to make a home and start a family. Once they view a Gothic style apartment in Manhatten, they fall in love with the property and move in, in spite of the warnings against moving in from their current landlord who warns them of the scary history of the building's past. Immediately after moving in, an older nosy couple that lives in the building, Roman and Minnie Castevet (Sidney Blackmer) and (Ruth Gordon) befriend the young couple. At first, the couple laughs off their quirky behavior until Guy becomes fascinated by Roman's stories and begins spending a great deal of time at their apartment. Rosemary remains skeptical about their idiosyncrasies but becomes distracted when she finally becomes pregnant after a strange dream she has. The further along in her pregnancy Rosemary gets, the more strained and distant her relationship with her husband becomes. When Roman and Minnie take an obsessive interest in her pregnancy and child, Rosemary becomes convinced that the couple and their friends have demonic interests in her baby.
The directing prowess of Roman Polanski in this faithful adaptation of the book by Ira Levin of the same name is one that will impact the audience and stay with you long after the film concludes. He absolutely nails the overwhelmingly claustrophobic mood of the film by confining most of the film to being shot in the young couple's apartment. Confining the shots to just the couple's apartment was even more pronounced as Polanski placed the actors in such close proximity to each other that they bumped into each other as they were roaming around the new home. He also compiled among the film several well-executed long shots further exposing the deliberate movements and the close proximity of the actors. I just can't get over how well Polanski filmed Rosemary's Baby, I thought I had seen it all when I saw his Chinatown, but Rosemary's Baby was far superior, and to think it was his first American film. Some directors just have "it".
The whole time Rosemary was preparing to be a mother, she was being manipulated by other people. She was doing her absolute best to protect her child, even though it meant putting herself at risk. Rosemary had wanted to become a mother since she and Guy's marriage and was overwhelmed with happiness to finally get the chance. As her pregnancy progressed, Rosemary realized something was vastly different with her Dr., recommended to her by the Castevets. She was gravely ill throughout most of her pregnancy even though she was taking the special drink prepared daily by Minnie. Once she was finally convinced that a demonic episode was taking place with her baby as the pawn, Rosemary did her best to escape, but all her efforts were thwarted by her husband and the Castevets. At the film's conclusion, Rosemary knows what has happened to her child and must make the ultimate decision on whether to parent the child she always wanted or abandon what had become of him.