Year Released: 1968
Directed by; Roman Polanski
Starring: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy
(R, 136 min.)
Genre: Horror

“This is no dream. This is really happening.” Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow)

Sometimes ranked as the No. 2 best horror film of all time, just behind Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Rosemary’s Baby is a Halloween must see for many. But there is an evil undercurrent to the highly lauded film as well.

It all started in the 60s. Hollywood’s slide into decadence, where the good guys stopped winning, resigning themselves to self-imposed impotence. Perhaps no film better shows this sly shift in point of view than Roman Polanski’s 1968 feature, Rosemary’s Baby.

That other famous deal-with-the-devil flick, The Exorcist, which followed in 1973, is more viscerally chilling, but the subtle Rosemary’s Baby is more frightening. Perhaps because it represents what Hannah Arendt said of Nazi Adolph Eichman and the “banality of evil” that masks itself in ordinary people.

It’s also what Robert Frost told us in his poem “Design” about a spider killing a moth:

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white,
On a white heal-all, holding up a moth
Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth—
Assorted characters of death and blight
Mixed ready to begin the morning right,
Like the ingredients of a witches’ broth—
A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth,
And dead wings carried like a paper kite.

What brought the kindred spider to that height,
Then steered the white moth thither in the night?
What but design of darkness to appall?—
If design govern in a thing so small.

All those innocent images - dimpled and fat, just like a baby, a snow-drop spider – seem so innocent, but they are just well-disguised “assorted characters of death and blight.”

That banality of evil is also present in the oh-so-ordinary older couple next door to Rosemary Woodhouse in Polanski’s film, especially Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet. She is nosey and overly helpful, annoying as heck, but certainly not menacing:

The mincing walk, the homely headscarf hiding her curlers, the almost comical facial expressions – all are set up to lull Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and us into compliant complacency.

***

But ever so slowly, just as with Hitchcock, we begin to have doubts. Part of that is the transformation of Rosemary’s actor husband, Guy (John Cassavetes). Almost like a catechism Rosemary cites all his roles, mostly in unknown plays and television commercials. He is cavalier, caring, and callous in equal doses, and even Rosemary has to admit very selfish at times.

While Rosemary almost has to drag him to the dinner at Minnie and her husband Roman’s (Sidney Blackmer) apartment, suddenly he becomes quite cozy with the elderly gentleman afterward, singing his praises and accepting frequent visits and advice. Guy’s advancement in acting soon follows.

But it is Hutch (Maurice Evens), Rosemary’s mentor and friend who creates the most dissonance, first by recalling the sad history of the Bradford Apartment Building they have decided to rent:

Are you aware that the Bramford had a rather unpleasant reputation around the turn of the century? It's where the Trench sisters conducted their little dietary experiments. And Keith Kennedy held his parties. Adrian Marcato lived there too... The Trench sisters were two proper Victorian ladies - they cooked and ate several young children including a niece...Adrian Marcato practiced witchcraft. He made quite a splash in the 90s by announcing that he'd conjured up the living devil. Apparently, people believed him so they attacked and nearly killed him in the lobby of the Bramford... Later, the Keith Kennedy business began and by the 20s, the house was half empty... World War II filled the house up again... They called it Black Bramford... This house has a high incidence of unpleasant happenings. In '59, a dead infant was found wrapped in newspaper in the basement...

Of course, Different Drummer cannot help but note that the most horrifying thing about Rosemary and Guy’s new apartment is what Rosemary does to the woodwork, painting over the rich real wood with a panoply of white paint, as if that somehow removes all the bad vibes beneath. Certainly a crime of the highest order for anyone who has any decorating taste!

Then there are the disturbing chants that emanate from Minnie and Roman’s place next door, the weird and odoriferous herb-filled necklace Minnie asks Rosemary to wear, not to mention the daily vitamin drinks she makes for Rosemary, who obediently drinks them under her husband’s watchful eyes.

And of course, the chocolate mousse Minnie drops off one night, which leads to Rosemary’s sudden dizziness and fevered dreams, a kind of Kafka / Salvador Dali kaleidoscope of sailboats, Baroque paintings, naked, chanting septuagenarians, a smiling priest, a horned and scaled aggressor, and much more.

One cannot deny the effectiveness of Mia Farrow’s Rosemary. Even though Director Roman Pulanski wanted a more voluptous all American girl like Sandra Dee or his own wife Sharon Tate in the role, producer Robert Evans wisely overruled him, choosing instead the rail thin and very vulnerable looking Mia Farrow for the role. Her submissive nature and physical fragility reinforce the evil we see enveloping her.

***

And finally, like the famed curse of Shakespeare’s “Scottish play” – actors mustn’t ever refer to it as Macbeth – as well as certain horror films like 1982’s Poltergeist, Rosemary’s Baby also has its rumored curse.

One of the more interesting involves Ira Levin, who wrote the novel on which the film is based:

Like all good scary stories, this one starts out very ordinary. In 1965, struggling as always for his next big idea, Levin looked no further than his pregnant wife in their New York apartment. He plopped every would-be parent’s feelings of anxiety atop an imminent historical moment: June 1966, or 666—a.k.a. the “number of the beast,” as predicted in the New Testament’s Book of Revelation. Religious counterculture was already swirling: the Church of Satan was soon to be established in San Francisco, and in April 1966 Time magazine had just famously asked on its cover: “Is God Dead?”

Levin went even darker: What if he took the birth of Jesus and turned the whole tale upside down? What if God was not only dead but the devil lived? –Rosemary Counter, Vanity Fair

Levin’s marriage crumbled in 1968, the year the film was released, the Catholic Church rated it “C” for condemned, and Levin never achieved much acclaim afterward.

And who can forget that Director Roman Polanski’s wife, Sharon Tate, 9 months pregnant at the time, was viciously murdered by the Manson family a year after the film was released. Then, with Polanski himself falling into “ a tailspin of drugs and depravity,” raping a 13-year-old girl and fleeing the country to avoid prosecution, the fall was complete.

One can add the facts that John Lennon was murdered outside the building where Rosemary’s Baby was filmed, and that the film’s composer, young 38-year-old Krzysztof Komendam “fell off a cliff in Los Angeles and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage just months after completing his work on the film. After the fall, Komeda went into a coma and languished for some time before finally passing away” just as one of the characters in the film. (Jacob Shelton)

The fact that Mia Farrow was served divorce papers from then husband Frank Sinatra right on the set of filming, of course seems minor in comparison. But then think about Mia’s future relationship with Woody Allen…

But perhaps the most haunting thing of all is the film’s ending.

[Rosemary begins to rock her child gently; child stops crying; everyone gathers around to admire Rosemary bonding with her baby; photographer takes pictures; Rosemary begins to hum a lullaby to her child; scene fades]

And so it began. The insidious takeover of filmdom, the new age of anti-heroes, the exultation of mob figures and criminals to stardom. And that takeover is perhaps the most horrifying thing of all, beyond any inherent creepiness that Rosemary’s Baby ushered in over 50 years ago.

–Kathy Borich
🥁🥁🥁🥁

Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

Minnie, Ruth Cordon in her Oscar winning role as the “neighbor from hell,” pops up at Rosemary’s door unannounced at all times day and night. One night during a romantic dinner that Rosemary cooks for her husband, Minnie turns up again. Rosemary refuses to answer the door that has interrupted their time together, so her Guy answers it for her.

For once, Minnie doesn’t burst into the apartment, content to drop off the chocolate mousse she has whipped up that afternoon.

After a few bites, Rosemary complains of “a chalky under taste.” Guy insists she finish it, but she dumps it into her napkin when he is out of the room.

And that makes all the difference.

Enjoy our luscious Chocolate Mousse recipe guarantied free of any under taste or bad “dreams” that might follow.

Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients

§ 1 cup cold heavy whipping cream

§ 4 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

§ 2 tablespoon (1 ounce) unsalted butter, cubed

§ 2 tablespoons brewed espresso or very strong coffee (I used decaf espresso from a local Starbucks)

§ 3 large eggs, separated

§ 1 tablespoon sugar

§ Raspberries and extra whipped cream, optional to serve

Directions

1 Whip the cream: Whip the heavy whipping cream to soft peaks, then chill.

2 Melt the chocolate: Put the chocolate, cubed butter, and espresso in the top of a double boiler over hot, steamy water (not simmering), stirring frequently until smooth.

Remove the chocolate mixture from the heat and let it cool until the chocolate is just warm to the touch. Don't let the chocolate get tool cool or the mixture will seize when the other ingredients are added.

3 Whip the egg whites: Once you've taken the chocolate mixture off the heat and it has started to cool, whip the egg whites until they are foamy and beginning to hold a shape. Sprinkle in the sugar and whip until the egg whites form stiff peaks.

4 Add egg yolks to chocolate: When the chocolate has cooled until it is just warm to the touch, stir in the egg yolks.

5 Add whipped cream and egg whites: Gently stir in about one-third of the whipped cream to thin and loosen the chocolate mixture. Then fold in half the egg whites. Fold in the remaining egg whites. Fold in the remaining whipped cream.

6 Spoon into serving dishes, chill: Spoon or pipe the mousse into a serving dishes. If you wish, layer in fresh raspberries and whipped cream. Chill in the refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours.

Simply Recipes.com