Rosemary's Baby
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Ira Levin was a great American novelist and playwright. His inventive thrillers are a special treat—The Boys from Brazil, The Stepford Wives, A Kiss Before Dying, and my personal favorite, Rosemary’s Baby. By now, the story that forms the basis of that landmark novel and of the 1968 film that was made from it is well-known. A young couple moves into an old, stylish New York apartment building. The husband—Guy—is a self-centered actor struggling for his big break, while Rosemary—his sweet, supportive wife—busies herself with remodeling their new apartment into a home where she hopes they will soon start having and raising babies. The brass ring of domestic bliss seems just within their reach.
But, of course, unsettling storm clouds of worry are on the horizon. Rosemary discovers that the building has a sinister history involving the occult. And she thinks that their next-door neighbors are a bit too eccentric. She dislikes how they’re always showing up at her front door, inserting themselves into her life with Guy, seemingly taking him away from her. As the title makes clear, Rosemary eventually gets pregnant and she is over the moon with joy—that is, until the storm clouds darken considerably and seem to be coming directly for her.
The film of Rosemary’s Baby stars Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes and a powerful cast of Hollywood veterans. It has all the spooky plot elements of what, at first glance, seems to be a well-crafted occult horror film. But as the story deepens, it reveals itself to be much more of a psychological thriller. Every scene in the film is from Rosemary’s perspective. We are in her shoes as the threats around her close in. We feel her mounting sense of paranoia, then her fear, and finally her desperate scream for help as she tries to save her baby and her dream for their life together from the forces of evil that will not be stopped.
Rosemary’s Baby was well ahead of its time in portraying a woman under siege in a man’s world.
Through a metaphorical lens, Rosemary’s Baby was well ahead of its time in portraying a woman under siege in a man’s world as she seeks to control her own body.
But is all of this really happening? Could Rosemary just be going mad from post-partum depression as her husband and her doctor say?
Even if you have already seen Rosemary’s Baby, the deeper meanings to be found in its psychological whirlpool make it a film well worth seeing again.
I give Rosemary’s Baby four out of four stars. It’s unnerving and brilliantly crafted on every level.
