Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the bestselling 1967 novel of the same name by Ira Levin. The cast features Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Ralph Bellamy, Maurice Evans, Sidney Blackmer, and Charles Grodin. The film chronicles the story of a pregnant woman who gradually discovers that her husband has made a pact with a secret religious cult and that the true father of her baby is the Devil.
Plot[]
In 1965, Rosemary O'Reilly Woodhouse, a bright but somewhat naive young housewife, transplanted from a devoutly Catholic family in Omaha, Nebraska, and Guy, her husband, a cynical struggling actor, move into the Bramford, an opulent but antiquated New York City apartment building. The couple learns from the building's manager, Mr. Nicklas, that their new residence was previously inhabited by Mrs. Gardenia, an elderly woman who had seemingly gone senile. Guy also discovers a dresser concealing a simple closet which contains nothing except a vacuum cleaner and a stack of folded towels. Their friend Hutch tries to dissuade them from taking the apartment, informing them of some of the Bramford's unsavoury and unseemly history but, undeterred, Rosemary and Guy move into the building. Rosemary meets a young woman, Terry Gionoffrio (Angela Dorian), a recovering drug addict whom an elderly, eccentric couple in the building, the Castevets, took in from the street. As Rosemary admires a pendant necklace the Castevets gave to Terry, she notices its strange smell. Returning home one night, Guy and Rosemary find that Terry has thrown herself to her death from the window of the Castevets' seventh-floor apartment. Rosemary and Guy are quickly befriended by the Castevets, Minnie and Roman, whom they'd first met on the street the night of Terry's suicide. Minnie invites the Woodhouses to dinner and they reluctantly accept. Guy forms a bond with the Castevets. Minnie gives Terry's pendant to Rosemary, telling her it is a good luck charm and the odd smell is from a plant called "tannis root". Later, Guy lands a role in a play when the actor who was originally cast suddenly and inexplicably goes blind. Guy suggests that he and Rosemary have a baby. On the night they plan to conceive, Minnie brings them individual cups of chocolate mousse. Rosemary finds hers has a chalky undertaste and surreptitiously throws it away after a few mouthfuls. Rosemary passes out and experiences what she perceives to be a strange dream in which she is raped by a demonic presence in front of Guy, the Castevets, and other Bramford tenants. When she wakes, she finds scratches on her body. Guy tells her that he had sex with her while she was unconscious because he did not want to pass up the moment for her to conceive.
Cast[]
- Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse
- John Cassavetes as Guy Woodhouse
- Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet
- Sidney Blackmer as Roman Castevet / Steven Marcato
- Maurice Evans as Hutch
- Ralph Bellamy as Dr. Abraham Sapirstein
- Charles Grodin as Dr. Hill
- Patsy Kelly as Laura-Louise
- Angela Dorian as Terry Gionoffrio
- Elisha Cook as Mr. Nicklas
- Emmaline Henry as Elise Dunstan
- Hanna Landy as Grace Cardiff
- Philip Leeds as Dr. Shand
- Hope Summers as Mrs. Gilmore
- D'Urville Martin as Diego
- Marianne Gordon as Rosemary's Girlfriend
- Wendy Wagner as Rosemary's Girlfriend
- Robert Osterloh as Mr. Fountain
- Walter Baldwin as Mr. Wees
- Tony Curtis as Donald Baumgart (voice)
- Clay Tanner as the Devil
