(Rosemary's Baby, Roman Polanski, 1968)Warning: Spoilers. So many spoilers.
If one movie exists that makes me never want to have children, it's Rosemary's Baby. The first time I saw this film I was in high school, and I don't think I fully understood just how terrifying it was. Now, 4+ years later, I find this to be one of the scariest movies ever made. Maybe it's a woman thing, but there isn't much that is more terrifying than the possibility of giving birth to a demon baby. Being raped by the devil, maybe. But don't worry, Rosemary's Baby has that covered, too.
Beyond the demon child/devil rape scenario that takes place in this film, there's also the constant presence of paranoia. Rosemary (iconically played by Mia Farrow) starts to believe that her seemingly innocent, elderly neighbors are actually witches, and that she is carrying the devil's spawn due to a ritual they've performed. She gets pale. She feels sick. She has an incurable pain in her womb. She starts eating raw meat. Oh, and on top of it all, her husband won't believe her. Because, it turns out, HE'S IN ON IT. And no one will listen to her. She gets told that she's paranoid by almost everyone she talks to, and she sees her life spiraling out of control and all she wants to do is save herself and her baby (who, until the very end, she has no idea is actually a demon baby). And she can't.
Now, all of this wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that she's RIGHT. About EVERYTHING. She is more right than any "paranoid" person in any movie about paranoia has ever been. With the help of Hutch, the one person who doesn't think she's crazy, she manages to figure out almost everything that's going on around her. Of course, Hutch is killed off by the people who are driving her to madness, and she is left alone with knowledge that she has no idea what to do with and absolutely no one to trust. And it's heartbreaking because all she wants is to have her baby, and the one thing she doesn't know is that the witches don't just want the baby. They created the baby. And no matter what she does, she can't get away.
In the end, we never see the baby. As far as a description goes, all we're left with is Rosemary maniacally asking what they've done to his eyes. Some (*ahem* JACK) are left unsatisfied with the ending of the film because Rosemary still accepts her role as the baby's mother. Because she IS the baby's mother and nothing can break that bond. But for me, whether Rosemary accepts her son or not doesn't matter. What I've always been left with is the unnerving feeling that, sometimes, when everyone is telling you you're paranoid...you aren't.
If one movie exists that makes me never want to have children, it's Rosemary's Baby. The first time I saw this film I was in high school, and I don't think I fully understood just how terrifying it was. Now, 4+ years later, I find this to be one of the scariest movies ever made. Maybe it's a woman thing, but there isn't much that is more terrifying than the possibility of giving birth to a demon baby. Being raped by the devil, maybe. But don't worry, Rosemary's Baby has that covered, too.
Beyond the demon child/devil rape scenario that takes place in this film, there's also the constant presence of paranoia. Rosemary (iconically played by Mia Farrow) starts to believe that her seemingly innocent, elderly neighbors are actually witches, and that she is carrying the devil's spawn due to a ritual they've performed. She gets pale. She feels sick. She has an incurable pain in her womb. She starts eating raw meat. Oh, and on top of it all, her husband won't believe her. Because, it turns out, HE'S IN ON IT. And no one will listen to her. She gets told that she's paranoid by almost everyone she talks to, and she sees her life spiraling out of control and all she wants to do is save herself and her baby (who, until the very end, she has no idea is actually a demon baby). And she can't.
Now, all of this wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that she's RIGHT. About EVERYTHING. She is more right than any "paranoid" person in any movie about paranoia has ever been. With the help of Hutch, the one person who doesn't think she's crazy, she manages to figure out almost everything that's going on around her. Of course, Hutch is killed off by the people who are driving her to madness, and she is left alone with knowledge that she has no idea what to do with and absolutely no one to trust. And it's heartbreaking because all she wants is to have her baby, and the one thing she doesn't know is that the witches don't just want the baby. They created the baby. And no matter what she does, she can't get away.
In the end, we never see the baby. As far as a description goes, all we're left with is Rosemary maniacally asking what they've done to his eyes. Some (*ahem* JACK) are left unsatisfied with the ending of the film because Rosemary still accepts her role as the baby's mother. Because she IS the baby's mother and nothing can break that bond. But for me, whether Rosemary accepts her son or not doesn't matter. What I've always been left with is the unnerving feeling that, sometimes, when everyone is telling you you're paranoid...you aren't.
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We could talk about how Roman Polanski is an excellent director. We could talk about how Mia Farrow delivers an amazing performance. But that would be neglecting one of the greatest features of Rosemary's Baby: the Dakota building in New York City. Granted, the interiors of the Dakota were filmed on a soundstage, but the building itself has an incredibly imposing presence that bookends the movie. Immediately upon seeing the opening shot, with Farrow's lullaby playing over it, you get the feeling that some seriously creepy business is about to go down. And you couldn't be more right.
The most worrisome thing about Rosemary's Baby is that there's no reason to be scared by anything that is going on. Rather than choose to show anything overtly demonic going on, Polanski instead chooses to ratchet up Rosemary's paranoia.
You can really look at this movie from two different perspectives. On one hand, you can side with Rosemary, who feels that her pregnancy is completely unnatural, slowly convincing herself that everyone she knows is against her. The film provides plenty of evidence towards this side (her dreams, her constant pain) and you can see that there could be some truth to her beliefs. On the other hand, if you come to the situation from a cold, logical perspective, you would side with the neighbors and Rosemary's husband (John Cassavetes). Almost every other character in this movie is convinced nothing is wrong with Rosemary, and that it's all in her mind.
And that's why this movie's ending works. If you side with Rosemary (as I think Polanski tries to do), you are completely vindicated by the films final reveal. If you sided with cold logic, you get one of the rare chances to be truly shocked by a film's ending. Granted, I wasn't really a fan of Rosemary's decision to keep her spawn of Satan. But I think that's what I like about the movie the most. I was so emotionally involved in the film that I truly cared enough about the characters to be outraged by a character's decision. I may not have liked the ending, but I'm really glad I didn't.
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