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Rosemary's Baby


This is another film I'd heard of countless times but watched only recently. Rosemary’s Baby, directed by Roman Polanski, is a 1968 horror film based on an Ira Levin novel. Mia Farrow is perfectly cast, and her performance alone makes it a classic. The film tells the story of a pregnant woman (Rosemary/Farrow) who suspects that witches want her and her husband’s baby for their satanic rituals. To anyone who has yet to see it I’ll say that things either turn out worse than she suspects or she’s actually a delusional madwoman who’s made it all up.


Watching it I couldn’t shut out the thought that Sharon Tate, married to Polanski and pregnant at the time, was brutally killed by the Manson Family after the film’s release. And that Polanski’s pregnant character, in the clutches of an evil cult, would in the end experience less horror in fiction than his wife in real life. Very sad. The film also acutely addresses women’s liberation, or lack thereof rather. And even its title manages to overlook the story's central character by reducing her to a mere modifier. While most of the men claim to know what’s best for Rosemary during her pregnancy, what she believes is best for her is rendered invalid every time. This makes the film as much a psychological thriller as it is a horror flick.

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