Welcome to Hell
Roman Polanski was behind some of the most influential movies of the 1960s. "Knife in the Water", "Repulsion", "Cul-de-sac". The Polish-born filmmaker, who turned 81 on August 18, adapted Ira Levin's "Rosemary's Baby" (1967) to the big screen. The author called it the best adaptation he had ever seen.
The movie, which was released a year after the book's publication, earned a following through the years. It was about a young couple looking for a place in New York City. There was one waiting for them.
High anxiety
"Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse had signed a lease on a five-room apartment in a geometric white house on First Avenue when they received word, from a woman named Mrs Cortez, that a four-room apartment in the Bramford had become available."
The opening lines don't seem scary at all. But put yourself into the couple's shoes. You're a struggling actor wanting to get a break. You're looking for a place, which your wife shouldn't be stressed out. Then there's the rent, on top of other expenses. Think about it for a minute, then a few minutes. Ten minutes. It will freak you out. This is Levin's intention, about the unease of living in the big city and the compromises that a couple make. He's also thinking of something else.
These problems come in a form of a Gothic house with a history of witchcraft. It can scare prospective tenants, but not Guy. Rosemary goes along. What she has in mind is a child of their own. It happens after Guy gets a part in a Broadway production. More projects line up, where the possibility of moving to the West Coast and working in Hollywood isn't remote. Then she hears spooky sounds and sees specters. Then those neighbors. (Aren't they too friendly?)
Wake in Fright
Levin made a career by writing books and scaring people. Who would have thought that a young WASP man, the kind of guy whom parents wanted their daughter to date with, could be a sinister figure? This was the premise behind "A Kiss Before Dying" (1953). How about feminism, which may not be promising at all? The New Yorker expounded this scenario in "The Stepford Wives" (1972), a satire on America's supposedly progressive values.
For "A Kiss Before Dying", Levin won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel at the young age of 25. It was impressive, which some predicted. He was the next big thing in American literature. "The Boys from Brazil" (1976) was about the Third Reich. There was a chance that Adolf Hitler would live again, but such a thought doesn't seemed frightening at all. This was an escapist tale that only Levin could pulled off.
As for "Rosemary's Baby", when the young woman found out that the father of her child wasn't her husband, then she became suspicious of their neighbors. They belonged to a coven, but it was a case of paranoia (of living in an unwelcoming environment). Levin wrote it first.
