Rosemary's Baby

1968
R
2h 17m

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

244K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

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Psychological Drama Psychological Horror Supernatural Horror Drama Horror

A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.0/10

244K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

1,098

107

See production info at IMDbPro

Won 1 Oscar
- 13 wins & 13 nominations total

Terry
(as Angela Dorian)

Patsy Kelly

Laura-Louise

Elisha Cook Jr.

Mr. Nicklas
(as Elisha Cook)

Emmaline Henry

Elise Dunstan

Charles Grodin

Dr. Hill

Hanna Landy

Grace Cardiff

Phil Leeds

Dr. Shand
(as Philip Leeds)

D'Urville Martin

Diego

Hope Summers

Mrs. Gilmore

Marianne Gordon

Rosemary's Girl Friend

Wende Wagner

Rosemary's Girl Friend
(as Wendy Wagner)

Toby Adler

Lady on Yacht
(uncredited)

Director
- Roman Polanski
Writers
- Ira Levin
- Roman Polanski
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
According to Mia Farrow, the scenes where Rosemary walks in front of traffic were spontaneous and genuine. Roman Polanski is reported to have told her that "nobody will hit a pregnant woman." The scene was successfully shot with Farrow walking into real traffic and Polanski following, operating the hand-held camera since he was the only one willing to do it.

Goofs
Rosemary didn't close the closet door all the way before fetching the knife because towels and linens were blocking it, but the door is completely closed when she returns.

Quotes
Rosemary Woodhouse: Pain, begone, I will have no more of thee!

Alternate versions
The film originally proved problematic for the UK censors and the rape scene was toned down by the BBFC for the cinema release with edits made to remove dialogue and shots of Rosemary's legs being bound. All later UK video releases featured the uncut print.

Connections
Edited into The Kid Stays in the Picture (2002)

Soundtracks
Lullaby
(uncredited)
Composed by Krzysztof Komeda
Sung by Mia Farrow

User reviews709

Review

Featured review

10/10

Reassuring to fine it's every bit as good as its staunchest champions would have you believe

Why aren't the horror directors of today as careful with their scripts as Polanski was? Not that this is really horror. Horror as we know it came into being with the slasher flicks of the late 1970s and early 1980s; "Rosemary's Baby" is rather the kind of thing that the term "dark fantasy" was coined to describe, by people of taste who noticed that the word "horror" promised audiences something distinctly unpleasant and nasty.

The film's construction is marvellous. Things start slow - one beat, so to speak, to a bar - and gradually pick up speed so that by the end we are nervously tapping out semiquavers with our feet. Polanski also understands the gentle art of hint-dropping. Many events are filed away as tiny puzzles to be solved later, and they ARE solved later; others we don't attach any particular significance to at the time Polanski invites us to re-interpret in retrospect, AND chooses the right moment to let us do so. And then, at the end, AFTER we've worked everything out, he presents us with a surprise - a delightful, gratuitous twist which nothing had prepared us for, which we couldn't have guessed, yet which doesn't cancel out the story as we'd understood it. (Alas, many people know what this surprise is in advance. I, for one. Yet this foreknowledge did nothing to spoil my enjoyment: a sure sign of superb construction.)

All in all, a film that tempts you to rank it with the best ever made - which is more, but not much more, than it deserves - simply because it's perfect. Everything went right. Rosemary is a wonderfully sympathetic heroine, powerless without being passive, largely ignorant of what's going on around her without being at all stupid, and Mia Farrow makes you care deeply about her. The cinematography is pellucid; the art direction is subtly right; there's also a fine, odd yet tuneful, musical score. I can't believe I waited so long to see this.