Rosemary (Rosemary’s Baby)

FEAR: LOSING CONTROL OF YOUR BODY/BEING GASLIT

Roman Polanski’s 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby belongs to a trilogy of his films, the other two being The Tenant and Repulsion.

Rosemary’s Baby is probably the most widely known of the three, and there seems to be good reason for that.

The film centers on Rosemary Woodhouse, played by Mia Farrow, as a young woman trying to get pregnant who has just moved into a gothic new apartment building in NYC with her husband Guy, played by John Cassavetes.

They soon meet some eccentric neighbors, The Castevets, whom Rosemary find obnoxious, but Guy begins to warm up to.

Minnie Castevets seems to take a shine to Rosemary, showering her with gifts such as a strange-smelling herbal necklace, and chocolate mousse with a weird after-taste.

One night, as Rosemary and Guy attempt to make a baby, Rosemary has a nightmarish vision of none other than SATAN himself impregnating her. The next morning Guy assures her that it was just a bad dream.

Throughout the film, as the leading lady grows sicker and sicker, wishing she could see a doctor who would seem to know anything about what’s going on, everybody around her gaslights her to unbelievable levels.

They tell her the extreme pain she’s in is completely normal, in fact, she’s being a bit dramatic about it.

Guy angrily demands she stop associating with her friends who tell her to see someone other than Dr. Sapirstein, who is of course in on the big reveal.

Eventually, after Rosemary has lost a scary amount of weight, looks pale as a ghost, and thinks she’ll die from the pain, she gives birth to the long-awaited baby, and…..

It’s the son of Satan. She was harboring the Devil’s child all along. Rosemary’s Baby is the Antichrist. Yes.

A woman is the portal to life.

It’s amazing that the human body can develop a mini human inside of it, all while keeping it nourished and protected, AND going about daily life functions. It makes sense then, that the woman should be the boss of herself and her body in that situation.

Imagine the horror of intuitively knowing, despite everyone around you saying otherwise, that your body really isn’t your own. That something is terribly wrong inside, and nobody seems to care, or think that you’re being honest in your pain.

This film taps into the visceral need to keep your body safe at all costs, especially in the case of pregnant women.

One of the last shots of the film is Rosemary, after giving into her fate of being the Antichrist’s mother, walking over to his cradle in a trance, completely drained of any defensive tactics she had left, and beginning to rock the cradle gently with a maternal look of content on her face.

~shivers~