Before I Die #621: Rosemary's Baby (1968)

This is the 621st movie I've now seen out of the 1,199 films on the "Before You Die" list that I'm gradually working my way through.

Director: Roman Polanski

A horror "classic" that still has some power, though it is considerably faded by age and endless mimicry by countless imitators.

The story follows the titular Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow), who moves into an imposing and creepy old apartment building - the Bramford - in Manhattan with her aspiring actor husband, Guy (John Cassavetes). Despite the building's dark history of housing supposed witches, and being the setting for some gruesome deaths in the past, the Woodhouses take an apartment. They are soon set upon by a pair of strange upstairs neighbors, the Castevets, an elderly couple who show undue interest in the Woodhouses. Rosemary and and Guy try to play along with the Castevets and several other strange denizens of the Bramford. However, when the young couple express an interest in having a child, things become ever-more bizarre, as the Castevets' interest in Rosemary increases to unnerving levels. On a particularly disorienting night, Rosemary suffers through what seems to be a fever dream wherein she is impregnated by some demonic creature that initially posed as her husband, Guy. After this strange nightmare, Rosemary discovers that she is, indeed, pregnant. the neighbors continue to close ranks around her, slowly attempting to cut off Rosemary's contacts with outsiders. Rosemary begins to suspect that she is at the center of some sort of dark Satanic ritual, and that her baby might just be the child of Satan himself.

This movie made all sorts of waves when it came out, and it's not difficult to see why. At the time of its release in 1968, tales involving Satanism were hardly part of the popular culture landscape. What this movie did was to take such dark subject matter and include it in a relatively mainstream offering. It was such a hit that the idea of a "Satan's spawn" or demon possession has been used over and over, to varying degrees of success, ever since, with 1973's The Exorcist and 1976's The Omen being the obvious standouts. Because of the high volume of imitators, the suspense and ultimate reveal of the story loses its impact.

Another area where age hasn't helped is in the overall writing. The dialogue, which was probably adequate and perhaps even engaging fifty years ago, feels rather clunky much of the time. It's often the sort of cheesy, unimaginative fare that you might expect from classic, prime-time TV dramas or sit-coms. A larger problem is that the Rosemary character is immensely pathetic. This partially fits into one of the grander and still-relevant themes (which I'll cover below), but it can simply be painful to watch the waifish Mia Farrow get buffeted around by forces which she finds too strong to fight, even though there are plenty of more obvious paths of escape to us viewers, if only Rosemary would show a bit more pluck. Fans of strong female characters are likely to be frustrated by this movie's lead. And the grand finale/reveal of the movie can be almost laughably silly, despite the fact that it is meant to be the height of horror.

Ruth Gordon as the garish and eternally nosy Minni Castevet.
Her function as a menacing nuisance is played only too well -
I actually grew tired of her well before the halfway point in
the film, along with a few other characters.

The film still works very well in two main ways. One is the use of the Bramford itself. The eerie old building still has power as an imposing setting for the diabolical machinations taking place within its walls. Far more powerful, though, is the movie's strength as social commentary. The relentless pressure put upon Rosemary by everyone around her - from her obtrusive neighbors to her supposedly loving husband - to get pregnant, see it to term, and raise the child, despite her strong misgivings along the way - all of these still resonate as the types of social pressure thrust upon women to make motherhood their primary focus. The movie takes them to a wild extreme, but this is what successful horror allegories do. Rosemary's Baby still functions well in this regard, even if it often feels bloated and clumsy about it much of the time.

I was glad to finally take in this horror classic which I had somehow never seen before, but I'll feel zero need to see it again. It's strengths in general setting and theme are easily garnered in a single viewing, while its many dated elements quash any desire I would have to sit through the film's 130-minute run time again.

That's 621 movies down; only 578 movies to go before I can die.