When you think of Roman Polanski, you may think of another one of Hollywood’s felons and predators, but he was once a well-loved and hugely respected director, who completely re-established Hollywood’s definition of “horror”. No blood, jumpscares or machetes were used in his films, just an unnerving sense of delusion.
Polanski’s arguably most famous movie was his fifth, Rosemary’s Baby, (1968). What seems to be the ordinary New York City couple, a providing husband, Guy Woodhouse, a pregnant wife, Rosemary Woodhouse, and a great sense of community later reveals to be a much darker truth. With topics such as infertility, paranoia and religion, Polanski truly pieced together a masterpiece, especially given the societal and political context of the United States during the 60’s.
The Movie Itself
First, let’s talk about the movie itself. Everything was beautifully crafted: the angles, the dialogues and the connections. A very interesting camera position is when they are used as Rosemary’s eyes (usually in her dream sequences,) so we, the viewers, feel, see, and hear everything Rosemary does. If it is not this, she is still in every scene. So, if she thinks strange behaviour is occurring because her husband randomly leaves the room, we believe her too. Polanski doesn’t offer the usual scene where we follow both characters, already breaking traditions in his first 5 movies.
It’s easy to say that we know when a scene is one of Rosemary’s dreams and when it’s not. For example, the first scene this is used is when she falls asleep and then the scene happens, ergo, she’s dreaming.
We are just as shocked as her when she finds a hidden hall in their brand new apartment. With a knife in hand, she is led to a room where all the most important people in her life are sitting around, having a drink and a laugh. Slowly creeping to the middle of the room, Rosemary finds her newborn son in a black crib, and her colleagues begin shouting “Hail Satan!.” An eery image of red eyes appear as she looks at the only innocent being in her life. The movie ends.
We’ve seen these eyes before, though… In her dream. See, instead of an obvious dream scene being placed, Polanski uses a technique of adding a feature that is only seen in her dream, and never in real life. This isn’t real, there is no Satan worshipper.
Social and Political Context
Is Rosemary then just a paranoid pregnant woman? Well, this was filmed in the 60’s, so women were still thrown into asylums if they had anxiety or any feeling other than happiness and sadness, and Rosemary seemed to be a very strong, well informed woman, which likely scared Guy. Women could not go on the birth control pill yet, which is just an interesting reminder when watching a movie revolving around pregnancy.
Rosemary reading a book about witches and scenes worshipping the devil brings me to the religious and political situation in the United States. Many wars had occurred in the years before, such as the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Both of these events took a massive toll on the generation of America at the time, specifically a religious decrease in the population ages 18-25. Why would God allow this rubble? The country noticed this, and called Pope Paul to visit New York in 1965 (, just three years before the film’s release), desperate to bring light to the generation again.
Clearly, Polanski incorporated real life feelings and motions into the movie, which is what shaped horror to what it is today. A more relatable emotion that many people have – not just something only seen in movies.
Featured image is courtesy of Paramount Pictures (1968)
