Scarily Brilliant

Rating: 10/10 (12 September 2006)

This movie means so much to me. It is exceptional in every sense of the word. It is a film that demands to be viewed more than once, and unlike most horror movies, where repeated viewing dulls the experience, this film only becomes more terrifying as you watch it again and again getting more and more caught up in the conspiracy that surrounds Rosemary.
Mia Farrow is the living, breathing heart of this movie. Appearing in every scene, her delicate portrayal of the beautifully innocent Rosemary Wodehouse provides a stark opposition to the disturbing nature of the movie's true subject. How she didn't win 1968's Best Actress Oscar is beyond me, let alone the fact that she wasn't even nominated.
Polanski's obsession with imbuing the mundane with sinister qualities has never been more effective than in this, his masterpiece (some may argue Chinatown or Repulsion as deserving that title, but Rosemary's Baby takes it simply for the way it manipulates its audience at the same time as forcing them to become emotionally involved in a truly outlandish plot). He is aided here by the film's setting, the creepy Bramford. The film begins with a long-shot of the New York skyline. Komeda's eerily melodic lullaby is being sweetly sung over the pink curly credits by Mia Farrow as the camera eventually settles on the Gothic Bramford building, nestled malevolently amongst the innocuous houses and apartment complexes of modern New York City. As the newlyweds Guy and Rosemary settle in to their newly purchased apartment it becomes increasingly obvious that every step Rosemary takes in search of a modern domestic bliss is in fact sucking her in to a nightmarishly evil scenario beyond her imagination.
Farrow is ably supported by the wonderful Ruth Gordon as the sinisterly over-solicitous next door neighbour and John Cassavetes (who famously clashed with Polanski onset) as her devilishly handsome actor husband. But Farrow is the star, and the year IS 1966, so although we never get to lay eyes on the eponymous baby, our thoughts are never far from him, his deceived mother and, of course, the lurking presence of his father.