This has to be one of my all time favourite films. A period piece in the best sense of the phrase, it morphs from love and hope through despair to a cold resolution. The music fits that transformation perfectly and the apartment set, as redecorated, is to die for. New York looks amazing too, poised between Breakfast at Tiffanies/ How to Murder Your Wife chic and the Hell and anarchy of the 1970s that no one in 1968-land would have predicted. I think it's time to dig out my 'fifty years on' anniversary DVD, sit back with a nice Vodka Blush and enjoy it again.
Quite. Polanski wanted ST to star in RB, or Tuesday Weld... An All American Girl Next Door type... it would, of course, have been a very different film. But Mia's terrific. Her fragility adds an extra dimension. You're right- I want their flat!
Mia certainly has fragility, physical and mental, and she plays victim, or apparent victim as in Death on the Nile, exceedingly well. As an aside, I believe this had to be filmed back-to-front in large part with Mia's hair getting cut progressively shorter, from her original soft bob, up to the scene where she reveals the extreme Vidal Sassoon cut; they couldn't wait months for her hair to grow longer naturally and it's not a wig (or series of wigs).
This film, in my opinion, is a masterpiece. I loved the book but the film carefully crafted so many nuances of the time and the real dark undercurrents of the story. Agree with everything your said, a beautiful insight. I also agree wholeheartedly about Mia Farrow, she was outstanding and carries that pixie cut fragility so beautifully. I remember in Death in Nile, she might have killed three people but her cracking fragility 'i did it all for love ' probably had half the audience wanting to hug her! Rosemary's Baby, always a masterpiece by Polanski to me!
One of Polanski's best films, I think- but then, as you know, I'm a HUGE fan of Polanski's work. Apparently RP wanted to cast Rosemary as a strapping All-American girl next door type- Tuesday Weld, or his wife, Sharon Tate... but Mia works perfectly. Really fragile. You so want to protect her, don't you? Or at least I do. I'm also a MASSIVE fan of Ira Levin. I need to collect him in First Editions. Such a brilliant writer. Have you read 'A Kiss Before Dying' (1953)?
I couldn't imagine anyone in the role other than Mia (her beautiful fragility definitely brings out the want to protect her) and I, too, am both a huge Polanski fan and I love Ira Levin too, I think (think) I have all of his books. A Kiss Before Dying is exceptional, loved it!
It's been many years since I've seen Rosemary's Baby. But as an American, Polanski is, as the kids say, problematic for me. Not only his vile act against a young girl, but his complete lack of respect for my country by running out on his punishment. I sincerely hope he dies never having set foot on American soil again, and I don't care what well-respected Hollywood type gets righteously indignant about his self-induced exile. Even genius directors don't get to decide for themselves whether or not they want to serve sentences for crimes they committed. (And, yes, some of my annoyance is the entitled hubris of fleeing and the apparent surprise that the US didn't eventually bow down to his greatness and forgive everything.)
For me, Polanski is the epitome of "can you appreciate the art but not the artist?" It's one thing to admire the work of an abusive artist when they are moldering away in the grave. It's another to wonder if streaming a film or getting a DVD will contribute in any way to Polanski's ability to wallow in self-pity in a chateau in France. It's my personal conundrum, nothing to do with this fine column, but reading about Polanski, whom I haven't thought about in a while, brought it to the forefront of my mind. After all these years I wonder if fleeing justice was worth it for him after all and how his legacy will be handled in the US when he does die.
Indubitably.
This has to be one of my all time favourite films. A period piece in the best sense of the phrase, it morphs from love and hope through despair to a cold resolution. The music fits that transformation perfectly and the apartment set, as redecorated, is to die for. New York looks amazing too, poised between Breakfast at Tiffanies/ How to Murder Your Wife chic and the Hell and anarchy of the 1970s that no one in 1968-land would have predicted. I think it's time to dig out my 'fifty years on' anniversary DVD, sit back with a nice Vodka Blush and enjoy it again.
PS: nice shot of Sharon Tate too (any excuse!).
Quite. Polanski wanted ST to star in RB, or Tuesday Weld... An All American Girl Next Door type... it would, of course, have been a very different film. But Mia's terrific. Her fragility adds an extra dimension. You're right- I want their flat!
Mia certainly has fragility, physical and mental, and she plays victim, or apparent victim as in Death on the Nile, exceedingly well. As an aside, I believe this had to be filmed back-to-front in large part with Mia's hair getting cut progressively shorter, from her original soft bob, up to the scene where she reveals the extreme Vidal Sassoon cut; they couldn't wait months for her hair to grow longer naturally and it's not a wig (or series of wigs).
She looks SO much better before the Vidal cut, don't you think?
This film, in my opinion, is a masterpiece. I loved the book but the film carefully crafted so many nuances of the time and the real dark undercurrents of the story. Agree with everything your said, a beautiful insight. I also agree wholeheartedly about Mia Farrow, she was outstanding and carries that pixie cut fragility so beautifully. I remember in Death in Nile, she might have killed three people but her cracking fragility 'i did it all for love ' probably had half the audience wanting to hug her! Rosemary's Baby, always a masterpiece by Polanski to me!
One of Polanski's best films, I think- but then, as you know, I'm a HUGE fan of Polanski's work. Apparently RP wanted to cast Rosemary as a strapping All-American girl next door type- Tuesday Weld, or his wife, Sharon Tate... but Mia works perfectly. Really fragile. You so want to protect her, don't you? Or at least I do. I'm also a MASSIVE fan of Ira Levin. I need to collect him in First Editions. Such a brilliant writer. Have you read 'A Kiss Before Dying' (1953)?
I couldn't imagine anyone in the role other than Mia (her beautiful fragility definitely brings out the want to protect her) and I, too, am both a huge Polanski fan and I love Ira Levin too, I think (think) I have all of his books. A Kiss Before Dying is exceptional, loved it!
It's been many years since I've seen Rosemary's Baby. But as an American, Polanski is, as the kids say, problematic for me. Not only his vile act against a young girl, but his complete lack of respect for my country by running out on his punishment. I sincerely hope he dies never having set foot on American soil again, and I don't care what well-respected Hollywood type gets righteously indignant about his self-induced exile. Even genius directors don't get to decide for themselves whether or not they want to serve sentences for crimes they committed. (And, yes, some of my annoyance is the entitled hubris of fleeing and the apparent surprise that the US didn't eventually bow down to his greatness and forgive everything.)
For me, Polanski is the epitome of "can you appreciate the art but not the artist?" It's one thing to admire the work of an abusive artist when they are moldering away in the grave. It's another to wonder if streaming a film or getting a DVD will contribute in any way to Polanski's ability to wallow in self-pity in a chateau in France. It's my personal conundrum, nothing to do with this fine column, but reading about Polanski, whom I haven't thought about in a while, brought it to the forefront of my mind. After all these years I wonder if fleeing justice was worth it for him after all and how his legacy will be handled in the US when he does die.