Cast

Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Victoria Vetri, Patsy Kelly, Elisha Cook Jr., Emmaline Henry, Charles Grodin

awards

Oscar 1969 – best supporting actress, Golden Globes 1969 – best supporting actress, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards 1969 – best supporting actor, best supporting actress

Film description

It seems most people are familiar with the plot of Rosemary’s Baby, about a woman about to give birth to the Anti-Christ, making a synopsis unnecessary. Roman Polański’s first Hollywood film started a wave of satanic horror films in the US and brought the director fame. The film adaptation of Ira Levin’s novel has aged somewhat, but the acting of the very young Mia Farrow (who replaced Jane Fonda) holds its own. John Cassavetes, who plays the pregnant woman’s husband, got the call when Warren Beatty rejected the role. The film includes various references to the actors – the leading antihero’s name is Roman, and the pregnant couple’s neighbors are the Castevets.

Rosemary’s Baby has little in common with modern horror films. This results from changes in the genre and Polański’s inventiveness – the variety was mere vehicle for the director to tell his story. The film paints an image of motherhood and accompanying anxieties, once considered the provenance of immaturity and irresponsibility, but being part of the process of becoming a mother. In the context of the cultural revolution of 1968, the story may be read as a metaphor for the conservative reaction to women’s liberation. Whatever the interpretation, what is most terrifying in the film is that the fear is based in reality.

Samuel Nowak