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Rosemary's Baby 9 March 04

Section: article

Categories: Film / dvd

Really a pleasure to see Rosemary’s Baby again after so many years, such a masterpiece in its genre (horror-thriller-satanist films?).
My memories of many previous viewings were more of the visual elements, the symphony of decor and attire so beautifully done, such as the moment when Cassavetes as Woodhouse appears in a white suit.

This time I noticed a lot more of the dialogue and words:

Some of the principal names in the story: Woodhouse, Hill, Baumgarten (tree, garden), Rosemary (the healing herb) are, for me, evocative of a dark fairy tale environment which is the rural counterpart of the urban gothic atmosphere around the Dakota apartment building where the film is set.

The most disturbing manifestation of evil in the film—Rosemary’s patronizing betrayal at the hands of Dr. Hill in whom she had placed so much hope—is one which could be drawn from everyday life without Satan’s help, particularly, I would imagine, from some of the life experiences of women, minorities, children and the poor in dealing with some medical doctors.

This might have been the first time that I have seen the film since John Lennon’s murder: it is eerie how the very spot of his murder is virtually the geographical focal point of the film between the interior of the Dakota (though shot in Hollywood I believe) and the exteriors shot in the vicinity of lower west Central Park and Rockefeller Center.

One scene at the entrance to the Dakota, as the Castevets were leaving on their journey, takes place where Lennon was later murdered. It is certainly just me, but the shot seemed unusually long and had a documentary quality which broke out of the narrative and verged on a document of the place and time it was made. The final shot of the film is an aerial view tilting down to the street with the entrance as its center point.

Some of many details:

  • The telephone voice of the blinded actor Baumgarten was that of Tony Curtis;
  • Sharon Tate appears in one of the party scenes, uncredited;
  • Rosemary’s baby was born June 1966: “666”;
  • At the New Year’s Eve Party Roman Castevet says right in front of Rosemary: “To 1966! The year one!”... The year one refers to the year of Satan’s return to earth, or his offspring (or whatever);
  • Minnie Castevet several times refers to the chocolate mousse she gave Rosemary as “mouse,” as in “Did you eat your mouse?”;
  • The words I could decipher in the game of scrabble are, in the order I wrote them down: men, waned, atone, ward, debit, cot, inky, “aly,” zeros, homer, ideas, clown, kazoo, em, grainy, lo, begin, eels, sever, is, tit, no, at, or.

Rosemary/Mia Farrow

Title: Rosemary’s Baby

Directed by: Roman Polanski

Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassevetes, Ruth Gordon, and more

Year: 1968

  • Title: Rosemary's Baby