Product: Rosemary's Baby (El Bebe de Rosemary) [ NON-USA FORMAT, NTSC, Reg.4 Import - Latin America ] (1968)
Rating: 4.0
Very Creepy, but slow moving and dreary
Rosemary's Baby is a peculiar film. I will not go over what other people have written, just a few points. Mia Farrow's character is Frustrating (with the capital F) - we sympathise with her vulnerability and stupidity only up to a point, then we want to give her EST. The two witches are superbly cast, there is something very creepy about their eyes, a black narrowness like a splash of ink that is so effective. This film lends to the notion that the choice of setting in New York involves some sly humor - the idea that neighbours should be as initially friendly as the old witches next door in New York marks them out as weirdos! While watching the film i considered the theory that the theme of the film was Rosemary's madness brought on by her isolation, the trauma of a pregnancy and her bullying husband - i think the author of the book (and Polanski) clearly didnt want to rule this idea out in the mind of the viewer, but considering this the ending seems strange and yet who is to say that the strange ending is not the deepening of her insanity in itself? After all we the viewers see no concrete evidence of the supernatural throughout, just some weird dreams and the confessions of the would be witches at the end (but then the insane DO hear voices dont they). Rosemary's agreement to nurture the child at the end therefore leaves us with several alternate terrors to consider, the mother is a danger to an innocent child or the child will survive as a danger to the world. Again i stress that there is no visual evidence of the supernatural in the film so a third possibility asserts itself, the people are eccentric devil worshiping lunatics who are pretending to be witches and the baby is in danger from the whole lot of them, i go with the last explanation. Back to the review, the film is extremely slow paced and drama-oriented and could not be expected to sate the palate of most modern horror fans who are used to something more action-oriented - this is a worthy film in itself.