NYC Noir: Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby (1968) ***

Directed by Roman Polanski
Written by Roman Polanski, based on the novel by Ira Levin

Starring:
Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse
John Cassavetes as Guy Woodhouse
Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet
Sidney Blackmer as Roman Castevet
Maurice Evans as Edward 'Hutch' Hutchins
Ralph Bellamy as Dr. Abraham Sapirstein
Victoria Vetri as Terry Gionoffrio

136 Minutes(Rated R)
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The New York City Noir Festival is about halfway done now, and I could see why they programmed the films in the order which they did. "Rosemary's Baby" is certainly a step above films like "The Woman in the Window" and "I Wake Up Screaming" when it comes to content and the darkness of the story. The film is from 1968, and the festival is obviously moving in an upward direction-with content going into more darker terrain every screening I go to. This is my first experience with Roman Polanski behind the camera, and I saw that because I saw him in "Rush Hour 3" just a few days ago. Let's just say that his work in this film is ten times better than his work in that last film.

This is the story of Rosemary Woodhouse, who has just moved into a New York City apartment with her husband, Guy Woodhouse. The two of them hope to have a child, and as they adjust to the new house they try for a baby as often as they can. When Rosemary befriends a woman in the laundry room that was taken off the street by the elderly Castevet couple-Minnie and Roman, who never had any children of their own-she is shocked to find her dead shortly after. When they comfort the couple they make friends with them, and Minnie and Roman begin to fascinate Guy with their stories, while Rosemary gets annoyed by their constant neediness. There is not much more plot that I wish to reveal except for the fact that Rosemary does in fact get pregnant, but as the pregnancy continues she begins to feel sicker and sicker, and her research disturbs her with facts so odd that she can't believe them to be true-but they have to be.

I don't want to reveal much plot because "Rosemary's Baby" slowly unfolds itself to you, and its better the less you know. All I knew was that something is going on with the title character's baby, but what, and the characters around, I did not. At times it may seem a bit draggy and conversations in the first hour and scenes seem to go on and on. It works in the same way that the novel "Crime and Punishment" does. That novel has many many scenes of conversation, and the characters keep coming in-it seems almost endless. But through all of these conversations and pages and pages of talk, there is always this tense feeling. The same happens here. In every minute their is an amount of tension, because you know that something is going to happen but you can't figure out how. The audience is deceived. And little events occur-Rosemary has a hard time eating an ice cream dessert that Minnie prepares for her-she says that it has a "chalky taste." And this little moment is an easy foreshadow for what is to come. It's moments like that, little moments that never return, that make you curious, always curious, to what is going to happen next. The payoff is fantastic and certainly a creepy and disturbing twist. The final scene is one of the best scenes that I've ever seen, and I've seen quite a few. Mia Farrow is great, and Ruth Gordon-as the neighbor Minnie-was terrific. I was not surprised when I read that she won an Oscar for her work in this film. "Rosemary's Baby" is a tense and dark thriller. Maybe I would not have picked it for a NYC City Noir film, but I guess they could only show so many.

For more information on the NYC Noir Festival, visit the Official Film Forum Website!