Unnerving viewing, more than 40 years down the line ...

Rating: 8/10 (9 December 2012)

Times have changed.
In it's time, Rosemary's Baby was regarded as a horror classic. It still is, to an extent. But to tell the truth, more than 40 years after its release, the definition of horror, in cinema, has unquestionably changed greatly, and, in these days, not having, as it does, any over-the-top gore or jump moments, Rosemary's Baby may no longer scare.
In fact, if I found anything really unnerving in the film, it was that expression, on the face of Mia Farrow transcendentally evoking Rosemary, in the final 2 minutes. It made me grateful that the film ended there, without showing what followed thereafter ...
For, as Polanski tells the story, we already know, or at least have guessed, about halfway through the film, all about Rosemary's baby, even when it is still in utero, though Rosemary herself may not. And THAT is where the supreme artistry of the film lies. Horrifying though it may not be any more, it still is chilling, and chilling to the core, as the fate of Rosemary herself always remains entirely unknown, till the very end. And that is also why the ambiguity in Mia Farrow's parting expression remains so disturbing, and stays etched in the memory much after the film itself has ended.
I cannot figure out, for the life of me, why Mia Farrow did not get an Academy Award for her performance. Ruth Gordon did, of course, for playing the perfect foil, as Minnie Castavetes, to Mia's Rosemary. Mia's indecisions, her fear, her abject terror at the threat she perceives to the life of her unborn child, far transcend the limits of the script, and stamp themselves indelibly on the psyche. It is truly a bravura effort, and carries the character to a level where Mia and Rosemary become entirely indistinguishable. To say the least, it can serve as a textbook example for anyone who wants to learn what acting is all about.
Equally inspired - if not, however, equally challenging - are, unquestionably, the performances of Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer as Minnie and Roman Castevet. I particularly liked the sly ambivalence with which Blakmer delineates his character, so starkly in contrast to his wife's menacingly overbearing effervescence.
The premise of the film is undoubtedly far-fetched and difficult to believe or digest, and, in the hands of a less inspired cast, may have been reduced to B-grade phatasmagoria. As it is, however, as conceived and created by Polanski and as executed by Farrow, Gordon and Blackmer, it is nothing short of art on celluloid.
Rewarding and memorably disturbing viewing, more than 40 years after it was made.