windows of the soul

Rating: 9/10 (21 April 2006)

the most successful trick employed in all of 'rosemary's baby' is in polanski's decision to not show the viewer exactly what has happened to rosemary's newborn baby's eyes. when she walks in and finds that her neighbors have kidnapped/bought from husband her newborn child instead of hiding it, rosemary is allowed to go to her baby and pick it up. lifting the child up in her arms, rosemary looks down and begins to scream, 'his eyes, what have you done to his eyes' as the movie ends. i love that we have no idea exactly what was done. maybe they were removed and she is staring down at the empty hollow sockets in her child's face? maybe they are hideously deformed, or cat shaped with sharp oval-shaped pupils? not showing allows the viewer to speculate and to tap into what it is terrifies them most, not be shown someone else's fear in the hopes it registers with them.