Taken strictly as an artist Roman Polanski is a director who’s taken his earliest work and ridden it to fame for several decades. He’s crafted a number of masterpieces of cinema that give him a place in cinematic history; he may have a lot of subpar films to his credit but anyone who’s crafted Rosemary’s Baby deserves to be remembered as more than a convicted pedophile. Throw in Chinatown and Roman Polanski’s conviction for forcing himself on a 13 year old girl he’d drugged up tend to obscure people’s perceptions of him.
He’s still defended as an artist by many because his first two films in Hollywood are the stuff of legend.
Rosemary’s Baby has a fairly simple plot. Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and her husband Guy (John Cassavetes) find a new apartment to move into. They have a couple of wacky neighbors (Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer) that are a bit meddlesome, however, but they seem harmless. Things keep happening, though, and Rosemary thinks something is up to no good. What follows is one of the scariest films ever crafted because the neighbors may or may not be worshiping the Devil actively.
It’s in the build up to the film’s big reveal in where the film finds its power; we don’t know whether this is Rosemary just dreaming all this up or if it’s all real. Polanski, who wrote the film as well as directed it, has designed the film to let the big reveal be a genuine surprise. We don’t know what’s happening as much as Rosemary does; when it’s revealed it’s an actual genuine surprise.
That’s the beauty of the film; this is a film that hinges on the big reveal and the setup therein. Polanski is arguably at the peak of his powers here as this is a nail-biting suspense film. As the film builds it’s one of a thousand smaller thrills; as Rosemary goes through the process of pregnancy it’s one of a number of smaller things as the film builds to the big reveal. This is a film that has to move slowly and have a payoff worth it; without it the film’s finale would fall flat. Polanski crafts this wonderfully as it’s alternately scary and spell-binding at times.
As always Criterion includes a fairly informative booklet on the film.
There is a documentary about the film in retrospect as well as an interview with the author of the novel the film was based upon from 1997. There’s also a documentary on the composer who crafted the film’s score.
The Criterion Collection presents Rosemary’s Baby . Written and Directed by Roman Polanski based on the novel of the same name by Ira Levin. Starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy. Running time: 136 minutes. Rating: R. Released: October 30, 2012 . Available at Amazon.com.
