The opening titles are beyond creepy and yet seductive with the creepy lullaby! Dreamily the viewer is floating above New York City. Then the viewer is dropped down almost as if by parachute to land to see Rosemary and Guy. Then one first meets Guy and Rosemary as they are going into Bramford (Dakota). They pass a water fountain that has white Calla lilies which has a meaning of an innocent that doesn’t know what the danger. We can assume that the Calla Lillies represent Rosemary Woodhouse.
Ruth Gordon received a best supporting Oscar for her performance in the movie as Minnie Castevet . One might know her for her role as Maude in Harold and Maude, She plays this sweet old lady that has a big secret she is in a coven and her husband is the head of the coven!
.
On the outside they just seem like sweet old couple that brought in a street kid, Terry Gionoffrio, that was at one time addicted to drugs. Terry is the kind of girl that would have been attracted to go out to San Francisco and become a free loving hippie. She would have also been the type of girl that would have been preyed on since she did not come from money and did not have family to protect her.
Terry says "They picked me off the sidewalk literally. I was starving and on dope...If it was not for them I'd be dead or in jail." She admits at first that she thought that they wanted some kinky sexual deeds from her but they turn out to be like grand parents. Terry of course does not have any close family and her only close family is a brother who is in the Navy.
Minnie and Roman brought in the young girl because all of the members of the coven are too old to reproduce a child of Satan. Unfortunately though Terry Gionoffrio who was "cleaning a windows at midnight" drops to her death. The night before the accident one hears through Rosemary and Guy's wall Minnie and Roman having a fight. Minnie is yelling "Why it is impossible to be hundred percent sure! Well, if you want my opinion we shouldn't tell her at all. That's my opinion." Rosemary and Guy make a joke about the partition and about being able to hear them. Then one hears people chant and wood wind instruments.
Minnie and Roman seem to be too conveniently walking by after the incident. Roman sees the policeman and asked right away if there had been an accident. Minnie and Roman "argue." Minnie says that the girl was happy and Roman says "every 3 weeks she was very depressed." They identify the body. They look at a letter that was attached to a window with a band-aid and the Police are ever ready to move to close the case. Perhaps if this was not New York there would be more interest but since it is the Police are use to these sort of events. With a quick glance at the letter that Terry supposedly left she declares "yes that is her handwriting!" But it does not add up to Rosemary. Rosemary sees that Terry is wearing this "good luck charm" she was talking about in the basement laundry room and that it is covered in blood. A couple days later Rosemary is given the same "good luck charm."
The night of Terry's Death she is sleeping in bed when she can hear Minnie talking to Roman through partition wall. We over hear Minnie say" Sometimes I wonder how come you're the leader of anything." Roman as we learn later is the head of the coven. This is transcribed into Rosemary's dream by having Minnie's voice/words being said by an angry nun holding a bible. Minnie further starts yelling as the nun "Please don't tell me what Laura-Louise said because I am not interested. If you'd listen to me we wouldn't have had to do this. We'd be all set to go instead of having to start all over from scratch."
What we can gather from not focusing on the images that we see which is of a window being bricked in and the light being blocked out. We can understand that Laura-Louise who is part of the coven was to watch Terry or she had suggested to tell Terry their plans for her. When Terry found out that they were in a coven and they wanted to impregnate her with the devil's spawn she was not happy! Now it is not know if she was hurt inside the apartment and then thrown out the window or if after finding out this information she threw herself out a window to her death. Perhaps also during the chanting they put a spell on her so that she was to commit suicide.
Interesting enough the windows of the room is being covered up by bricks. Roman says "shh!" but Roman is in the dream a handy man. Minnie yells "I told you not to tell her in advance, I told you she wouldn't be open minded." Meanwhile the image turns to the yelling nun walking over to a catholic girl choir. The present conversation on the other-side of the partition mixed with Rosemary's memory.
Rosemary says "I told sister Veronica about the windows and she withdrew the school from the competition otherwise we would have--." Rosemary seems to wake up when the door bell then rings. It is Minnie who is scoping out the place and is being very nosy about her and invites he to have a dinner with her that night that they cremated Terry. What is really odd is that of all nun names Veronica does not seem like a very "nun" name. It seems rather fancy and movie star like than nun. When I think of nun names I like Sister Mary, Katherine, Helen, and very simple names. So Rosemary as a child was in a catholic school girl choir and she said something about windows and got the choir disqualified. It was felt that they were going to win "if Rosemary had not gotten in the way."
Or is this the real truth? Is this something that we see through Rosemary's eyes that might not actually be really happening.
There are many themes that are in the book/movie. There is of course a high level of Paranoia in the movie/book. There is a fight between good and evil. There is the fight of Midwestern values being passe in the big city of New York. Then there is the question is Rosemary's baby really the baby of Satan or is it really just post partum depression? Therefore to some degree this story is also about mental illness versus reality. This story is yet another thing that outsiders would use the tag line "Only in New York [there would be a Satanic Cult that impregnates a woman with the spawn of Satan]."
Ira Levin in his book makes the story surreal but yet at the same time real. Ira Levin is perfection at creating almost real surreal situations which is also seen in "The Stepford Wives." We have seen those women who have moved to gated communities in Connecticut and then all of sudden look like a clone of everyone else in the gated community. Rosemary is very much a Stepford Wife although she is not under that vein yet because Ira Levin had not yet published the book until 1972. She goes under the idea of the "Cult of Domesticity" because she had the out dated four cardinal virtues: piety (Catholicism), Purity, Submission and Domesticity.Rosemary adheres to her role because she ultimately feels that woman's natural and most satisfying role was to be a mother. She wanted so badly to be a mother!
 |
| Joanna Bot from "The Stepford Wives." Disney animatronic vet created a utopia of robot women for men of the town of Stepford that were sick and tired of their activist wives. |
In Rosemary's Baby there is the normal fear of the fact that you need to keep your baby safe and that a mother gets very protective of their baby. We can further suggest with her inability to get pregnant quickly like her midwestern sisters that she is especially concerned about this pregnancy. We can then suggest that she really was not at all in the presence of a Satanic Coven but rather in her state she perceived them as threats. Oddly enough she a fertile young woman was intimidated by women who were beyond menopause! Women that did not have to worry about being pregnant and women that Guy would not be interested in cheating with. Yet she was intimidated by them. If you see it from the point of view that they are all in a coven then it makes sense but still it is interesting there are no young women in the coven. Perhaps are not really any monsters just overly invested elderly people that can take a toll on your young life and your libido! If anyone has dealt with a non family member old woman or man you realize that they become dependent on you. You might want to spend time with your husband and then all of a sudden you are driving a elderly next door neighbor, friend and etc to the store. They want to take time away that Rosemary did not want. She wanted to be with her friends and she wanted all the attention of Guy. Guy wanted to be on Broadway and to be a star actor on Broadway and maybe the movies. Rosemary pretty much just stayed in all day hoping to be pregnant like a dog waiting for him to come home.
Rosemary's baby does not take place in a far off land and it does not have a special language that you need to learn to read it. Rosemary's baby sometimes is about New York life as if it was written from the point of view of a Mid-westerner who never went to New York. A Midwesterner who got to see New York in the comfort of her home with something the Wicked Witch of the West used to spy on Dorothy and her friends. It is just full of scandal and so is about how evil New York naturally is sometimes!
Midwesterner Fears shown in Movie
- The whole scary basement of the Bramford. It is kind of like the myth that there are alligators in the sewers!
- The fact that the police don't want to investigate Terry's death because there are more crimes for them to go report. The idea that New York is a very dangerous place although at that time New York was dangerous.
- Terry's death scene is the most gory of all the movie it gets to Rosemary but Guy can sleep after seeing it.There is that idea of New York Apathy. Midwesterns would have know Terry and would be upset about her death for a long time! It is something that could shake a midwestern's to the soul!
- Pope Paul VI sees the New Yorkers at Yankee's Stadium which is not a church but rather the church of the nation's favorite past time! That is very sacrilegious!
- At the doctor's office while she is waiting to be saved from the Coven she reads an article of time "Is God Dead." This of course is a real Time cover but it something that is well timed since she is afraid that a satanic cult has implanted her with Satan's offspring. Where is he to save Catholic Rosemary from the pain and suffering from of carrying Satan's offspring? Has he left Rosemary because she moved to the big city?
- Everyone seems to be an atheist in NYC! Minnie and Roman talk about how Pope is silly. Then they half hearted apologize to Rosemary. Even her husband Guy is not religious. Even though Rosemary is apparently very Catholic we never see her go to church not even once on Christmas. She is not even a High holiday Catholic as we call it in Massachusetts.
- There is a scene where they say "Hail Satan" at New Years and when she finally meets her son like what most Midwesterners secretly think all those posh NYCers did. That they value their expensive goods over family values and that they were heathens.
Just re-watch it through those eyes again then you will see how sometimes it is very much like that. It can be a little judgmental of New York culture. If you see it through the lens of a midwesterner then you will see how it is warning you of going to New York and against having a job that is not normal. Guy was in the vain business of acting and he had to sell his soul in order to make rent. He never thought about working a full time job at a bank or other "respectable jobs." If he went with the norm then he would have acted on the side and frankly Guy seems a bit old to be going after acting jobs. He looks to be in his late 30s and still did not really have any breaks.
A happy young couple with enthusiasm are moving into this too good to be true new apartment building. They are in love, Rosemary has good Midwestern values, she is a little too naive and is trying to get pregnant. Guy is ambitious and trying to make it on Broadway. He has had some off Broadway shows and has some Motorcycle ads on TV. But he really is not in a career yet and this apartment is above their means. Guy would have to get a better gig in order for them to stay in the apartment.
Their friend Hutch is into ghost stories and tells them stories about the Bramford. Hutches full name is Edward Hutchins is their former land lord and friend who write them a lovely reference so they can gain be considered for the Bramford. Hutch seemed to be some sort of Professor of history or literature at an established New York college. He is a sort of friendly father figure to Rosemary and is around the age of Roman Castevets. With his age and his posh accent you do not question his intelligence or authority.You would believe that Rosemary must be carrying the spawn of Satan because there are books about it and Hutch is so convincing.
Of course one does wonder if he is of the Greenwich Village Beatnik generation and if he is an "eternal bachelor." He is a well dressed man in the 1960s who is intelligent and who can cook. In 1965/1966 being that type of man made you a gay man. If you are looking to double check if he is a widow there were no pictures of a deceased wife. This also might be why Guy is uncomfortable hanging out with Hutch because he goes against mainstream culture and is gay.
Guy is furious that Hutch is encouraging obsession with the Bramford and witches because two reasons. One of the reasons is that he is in the Coven that used Rosemary as a vessel for the spawn of Satan. However there is a chance that Guy might not be a jerk and he is worried about Rosemary because this obsession is ruining her mental health. When guy hides the books about witch craft or when he throws them out he might be worried about the safety of his wife and his baby.We see things through Rosemary who perhaps might not be a reliable source because she is paranoid. We don't know about Rosemary's mental health or really her past before she moves to the Bramford.
What we do know about Rosemary is: she is from a big family, she does not work for a living, she is married to Guy, she is naive and she is easy to push around. But what if that was just Rosemary projected and Rosemary was not so main culture?
Things that contradict that Rosemary is a "good Midwestern girl"
- She adores Hutch who obvious from the counter-culture.
- She is never seen calling or writing to her folks in the Midwest.
- She never goes to church.
- She is the one who suggest to Guy that they have sex not in a bed but on the floor when the first move in.
- She does not clean her plate when she eats.
- She is interested into the occult.
- She has a dream where she is on a ship with JFK and is naked.
- She has a dream later on where she is naked in front of a sailor who is black (would be a big deal in 1960s all white Midwestern town). She also has a dream about someone she knows in real life and he is the elevator operator from her building. He is also the one that is steering the ship she is upon in the dream.
- She cannot possibly be that Naive! Is it possible that she makes her own reality and makes herself be the victim?
Symptoms of Post Patum Depression/Depression During Pregnancy That Rosemary Has:
- Loss of appetite The girl never eats and when she should be gaining weight she loses weight
- Insomnia She has been eating in her sleep and after the baby is born in her home she cannot sleep. She thinks they are plotting against her post baby and refuses to take her sedatives. She does not really sleep.
- Intense irritability and anger For a easy going woman she does tend to have a lot of outbursts. She goes next door when she hears a baby through the back wall. She goes over with a knife and threatens the next door neighbors.
- Overwhelming fatigue She cannot go anywhere and she has bags under her eyes. She has severe cramps that her doctor is ignoring.
- Loss of interest in sex She thinks that her husband let her be raped by Satan or Satan went through him while they had sex. Yeah I would say she has this!
- Lack of joy in life She always is left alone while Guy goes out for these cast calls. Then he is performing on Broadway yet she never goes out to see him perform! Odd. Plus she only has one party and she is overly emotional during the party.
- Feelings of shame, guilt or inadequacy She thinks she spawned the son of Satan. The only time pregnant and it is Satans!
- Severe mood swings Just in one scene of the party she goes from being happy her old friends are coming to the party. She then talks about how she is not feeling well and then bursts out with "I am not going to have an abortion." Then after the party while Guy and her are cleaning she talks about how the pain has stopped! That her baby is alive!!! She is over joyed! This was maybe a period of 6-8 hours maybe more!
- Difficulty bonding with your baby She looks at her baby in the crib and she talks about how inhuman her baby's eyes are/ her baby is the devil. She only goes over to help the baby because Laura Louise is rocking the cradle too hard.
- Withdrawal from family and friends How is it that a first time mother does not have her family come up or visit her before or after the baby is born? She never sees her friends EXCEPT when she has that party. But those friends never come after the party? She does not send out cards that announce that she is pregnant. She only sees Minnie who is a lonely older woman.
- Thoughts of harming yourself or your baby she goes into the next room with a knife to kill whoever is near her baby. She thinks her baby is the devil.
- Anxiety She thinks she is carrying the spawn of Satan and a coven is after her!
- Relationship problems: She was ignored a lot by Guy and then after befriending the neighbors next door he is interested in having a baby with her. It seems forced and too convenient to Rosemary.
- Family or personal history of depression: We do not know anything about her family life just that her siblings are always pregnant.
- Infertility treatments: She does not have any treatments but she does not get pregnant easily. She is very upset when she thinks she was pregnant but then gets her period.
- Previous pregnancy loss: We are not sure about this but it seems like they were just trying for a while.
- Stressful life events: Her husband raped her while she was asleep and that is how she got pregnant.
- Complications in pregnancy: She has intense pains and is her pain is being ignored! It causes her not to be able to really sleep and she eats raw meat when she sleepwalks!
- History of abuse or trauma: Not sure of previous history but she was raped by her husband.
By reading the sequel written after Anton LeVay dies, 1997 and set in 1999. Supposedly the reason that Rosemary wakes up from a coma is because the oldest member of the Church of Satan dies aka Anton in real life.We find out that Bramford was named about Bram Stoker's Dracula. But that is not in this book so I will go away from the sequel since it was not really to many people's liking. It was more of a "Godfather 3" than a "Aliens" sequel which enraged a lot of people. I consider it more of a rough draft with lots of chances to tighten up and I would revise it.
The movie tends to be slanted from the point of view that Rosemary is carrying the seed of Satan. If you see it from the fact that Rosemary is dealing with Post Partnum depression and Paranoia. She exhibits signs of depression even while she is pregnant. She loses weight instead of gaining weight while she is pregnant which is a very odd even into almost her third trimester!
There was a lot of disappointment that she was not able to conceive right away because she comes from a Midwestern town where he sisters have many kids. The scene where she is not pregnant she is quite moody, listens to jazz, puts a water bottle on her stomach and is surrounded by two menopausal women. Perhaps the attempts to have children had become less about love and more about producing an heir. That night that Rosemary conceives Andy she is passed out. If we believe that in fact there is NO satanic cult then we have to get our minds around the fact that her husband raped her. Rosemary wakes up and has scratches all over her body. Guy looks at her with a smug and fake apologetic face seen here. That would be a lot to wake up and process. Yet she does not really get mad.
Rosemary is not the most progressive girl in the world just realizes that while she was asleep her husband raped her. She says in a baby voice that "well you could have waited" but nothing assertive. I think even for her time that she was too passive about being raped by her husband. One could argue that it started to fester in her head. Perhaps she did not show it but it was building in her head and that is why she acts so passively aggressively to Guy. Rosemary had to believe that he is in a Satanic cult in order to be mad at him. Before a more enlightened time there was an idea of a "a wifely duty" where a wife had no right to her body for that belonged to her husband.
That is enough to make her think that maybe he is evil but being religious or brought up catholic to think of him as the devil. That way she can think ill of her husband without actually being mad at her husband. It is disgusting to see that she is covered in scratches and that her husband say "I did not want to miss baby night." But ignore that fact in order to get those scrapes on her body Guy had to have really had rough sex with her. The fact that in the beginning of the movie he is so sweet, shutting off the lights and making love to her. Then now he has angry like sex with her. There might be something different in the relationship.
That is enough to make her think that maybe he is evil but being religious or brought up catholic to think of him as the devil. That way she can think ill of her husband without actually being mad at her husband. It is disgusting to see that she is covered in scratches and that her husband say "I did not want to miss baby night." But ignore that fact in order to get those scrapes on her body Guy had to have really had rough sex with her. The fact that in the beginning of the movie he is so sweet, shutting off the lights and making love to her. Then now he has angry like sex with her. There might be something different in the relationship.
I think that Rosemary was not just some yokel from the Midwest. Maybe in the early beginning but I think she was hitting the New York life and adapting a city lifestyle. She had friends that she hung out with that were educated and sophisticated. She lived by Broadway and she could catch a show. So when her husband raped her I think something inside of her shifted. She was not the sweet naive girl anymore and I think she woke up to the fact that her husband raped her. Seeing him as the devil so that she could be mad at him! Rosemary became angry! Her husband raped her, all of a sudden out of no where he became famous and he was ignoring her! Her childlike view of her marriage to Guy was falling apart. No longer was her reality based in real life but rather the idea that her beloved turned evil because there was a plot set against her. That a coven wanted to use her to as a vessel for the spawn of Satan.
I want to review the dream when she thinks she is being raped by Satan. There is some reality and true facts weaved into her dream.
These are the events before the dream. When she walks in Guy is sorry for ignoring her and has three huge vases full of red roses. He has in red circled her most ideal days for conception October 4th and October 5th. Guy comes home to woo Rosemary and to have "baby night." This makes Rosemary very happy as she just had a conversation with Hutch about how she feels so ignored.
Rosemary dresses up as does Guy. They set a fire, rosemary makes a lovely dinner and then they get interrupted by Minnie Castevets. Luckily Minnie does not cock block for once Rosemary's baby making night. So then Guy comes back with Chocolate mousse that Minnie made them. Minnie calls it of course "chocolate Mouse" because she is an unsophisticated old lady. Rosemary picks at it and says that there is an under-taste to the dessert. Old women sometimes have things that are a little expired or that are not as fresh. If we see Minnie as a normal old lady she did an instant mouse that probably was not well done. Also how funny that Minnie does a Mousse and therefore tee hee Minnie Mouse.
Guy oddly insists like an over bearing father that she finish her dessert. Rosemary distracts him so that she can get rid of the chocolate mousse in her napkin. She then oddly calls Guy " Daddy." However, one could argue that is what wives said to their husbands in that time frame. Today that would be an odd choice of word. But if you look at the relationship you see Rosemary behaving badly or jealous and Guy like a Dad throughout. Is it because Guy had to take responsibility over Rosemary where they were before? Or he could just be over bearing jerk even without the Coven connection.
Guy oddly insists like an over bearing father that she finish her dessert. Rosemary distracts him so that she can get rid of the chocolate mousse in her napkin. She then oddly calls Guy " Daddy." However, one could argue that is what wives said to their husbands in that time frame. Today that would be an odd choice of word. But if you look at the relationship you see Rosemary behaving badly or jealous and Guy like a Dad throughout. Is it because Guy had to take responsibility over Rosemary where they were before? Or he could just be over bearing jerk even without the Coven connection.
Pope Paul VI really did go to Yankee Stadium on his tour of the United States. When Rosemary is removing the Chocolate Mousse off of the napkins she hears Guy in the other room. Guy is yelling that the Pope is on the TV. The Rosemary starts getting dizzy. It is also interesting that on the night that the Pope is in New York is also the time that Catholic Rosemary's body is ready to conceive.
With that information Rosemary gets very dizzy. She teeters around the apartment and falls on the ground. Guy picks her up and carries her like a groom carries a bride. You hear a clock ticking as he puts her onto the bed. Never before have you heard a clock ticking in their room so this is interesting. Is this a biological clock maybe? Rosemary is not quite asleep yet.
Rosemary: Nice
Guy: Sleep is what you need. A Good night sleep
R: We have to make a baby
G: Oh, well-- we'll do it tomorrow. There's plenty of time
<clock ticks.>
R: Just a nap.
Rosemary then is fulling clothed on a bed but the bed is on the ocean. Then Rosemary is no longer on the mattress but rather she is comfortably sitting on a boat with a drink in her hand. Glamorous people are on the boat. Most people are coupled except her. There is a compass and Nautical Chart. It pans over to a JFK who puts on a hat and we see that he is the Captain of the boat/Naval Officer. Ironically at this time October 1965 he would have been dead because he had been assassinated November 22,1963.
 |
| Kennedy as a Naval Officer |
What does JFK mean in the dream. JFK was the first and only catholic president who brought about many social changes. At the time he was president he was 43 and he was the youngest elected president. He was a known womanizer, he had affairs with Marilyn Monroe, and his wife was a fashion icon. He might be there because Rosemary wants to get back to her Catholic roots or as a sort of affair for Rosemary. Many housewives were devastated over the death of JFK and before that they found him quite attractive. Since everyone else is coupled off one has to assume Rosemary's that she was meant to "couple" with JFK.
Then JFK transforms into Hutch who is pointing around. He sort of is pointing like a compass perhaps suggesting that Hutch is the moral compass. Oddly then Rosemary is being undressed or going against her own moral compass? Reminds me of the quote: "If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable"- Lucius Annaeus Seneca. Rosemary is just sort of drifting in many ways in her life. She is married but without a baby. Rosemary is not a practicing Catholic and not sure if she wants to go back to the fold.
R: Why are taking them off?
G: To make you more comfortable.
R: I am more comfortable
G: Sleep Ro
Back in the room Guy is unsnapping Rosemary's clothing. The sound of a ticking clock is loud. Then when he goes to take off Rosemary's pants Guy is actually taking off her pants between two life boats. Life boats are used when there are issues with the main boat. Rosemary is perhaps is feeling like she cannot escape her current situation. It appears that Guy is pushing her back on the boat instead of saving her from the perceived evils on the boat. He is also leaving her naked and afraid. Rosemary is shown naked and signs that she is cold. She is shameful of her body perhaps the fact that her body cannot make a baby. She was very upset that she was too dizzy on baby night. Also perhaps she feels like everyone in real life can see through her. There are close up of her breasts.
Rosemary is concerned about her nakedness. Then all of a sudden she is covered up by a bikini and is next to a life preserver. Her subconscious appears to make things change by clothing her so that she can get a message of how she wants to perceive the dream. We see how more like a girl Rosemary is compared to the big breasted women in bikinis who are sunning themselves on boat's deck.
The women that are on the boat I believe to be Rosemary's sisters who are older than her and already have big families. At this point she had been trying for a while to have a kid yet her sisters easily were always pregnant. The man in the uniform could be Rosemary's brother. I think that it is Terry's brother that was in the Navy because it looks like the Navy's Khaki suit and Terry was on Rosemary's mind.
R: Isn't Hutch coming with us
JFK: Catholics only. I wish we weren't bound by these prejudices but unfortunately--
Rosemary nods sadly as she looks at Hutch. We see that Guy takes off forcefully Rosemary's gold wedding band. Which is interesting close to the images of being naked and of JFK. Also it is odd that if this was not part of the dream like the viewers see. I don't take my wedding band off when I go to sleep. This is an idea to ponder. Perhaps if we see it as a unconscious want of Rosemary to no longer be married to Guy. This is something that awake Rosemary would not admit.
But before today Guy was ignoring her and leaving her to hang out at the house far from her friends. We only see Rosemary hang out with her friends once at a party she throws but no one comes by to hang out with Rosemary. It is odd. It is also odd when you further think about that they throw ONE party and at the ONE party it is full of people. Yet after the party no one filters back into her life. She I think has New York friends and she must have been in New York longer than a year or so. But we have to take her word that she is religious and that she has friends. We have to take her word because she never goes to church and we never see her with friends except once at this party. The party that they threw was wall to wall people and must have been crazy the apartment was wrecked! Then after this crazy party Rosemary just feels so much better and starts gaining weight and being healthy!
We have to take Rosemary's word that they had a party where her house was full of young friends. Normally she just has an acquired situation when the older menopausal women come to visit her house. Also whenever she has the menopausal women over she is either sick with cramps, is having cramps with her baby and has just miscarried. Are they friends or maybe the are nurses that are not young. They are forceful and maybe she wants to think less of them and think that she is better than them because she is not menopausal. That "hey I cannot have a kid (because I have yet to conceive or I miscarried)" but at least I have other chances unlike these "dried up menopausal women." She has to perhaps make them not be the ones that are taking care of her but rather just be annoying people in her life.
For an example one of the women, Laura-Louise that is always doing the wrong things. This older woman shown above she was the one who let Terry out of her sight then Terry died. She is also the woman that did not know how to properly rock the baby when Rosemary finds out that they have the child. Perhaps this woman is actual some sort of nurse that is looking out for Rosemary or is a concern woman that is trying to help out Rosemary. This woman might not actually be old. She could be a projection of her mother or represent to her mind older values that don't fit in current New York. Anyway. We know Rosemary is lonely and depressed she basically had that conversation of Hutch. Hutch might have also suggested or put in Rosemary's mind that maybe she get a divorce.
Back to the dream sequence.There is focus on the sunny yellow wallpaper. Then Rosemary's face is super-imposed on the wallpaper. She is the literally being becoming apart of the apartment. She is not seen. She is fading into the wallpaper!
Guy: Easy, Easy, you got, her too high!
Hutch: Typhoon (X4) It killed 55 people in London. And it is heading this way.
<The wind is attacking Hutch>.
We see the back of a sailor who is looking out at the ocean. There are a lot of waves. Rosemary goes to stand next to the sailor. The sailor ends up being the black elevator operator. First of all Sailor suits are not the uniform for the Bramford so this is a dream. Sailors represent freedom and not having a port. It goes with the themes that Rosemary feels lost and also water often represents sexual desires. So she is shockingly for the time thinking about the black elevator operator who steers her ship. Her water is not calm it is stormy and cannot be contained. Perhaps around this time before the summer of love and freedom she is on the pulse. She is thinking there is more than this relationship with Guy and she is not satisfied. She might not actually want to have sex with JFK and the sailor version of the elevator operator but there is still desire there. She is not satisfied in her life, she does not have a baby which she thinks will complete her and she is denying that she is this sexual being. It does not mean that she has desires to cheat but she is being treated like a child and perhaps she is ready to make love like a woman. She wants more power perhaps in the relationship and wants realization of this. Of course Freud pretty much said everything is about sex. But I really think this uncontainable water/passion is just her wanting to turn the tide and she is angry. She cannot admit it in her awake life but things are not okay with Rosemary.
Black Sailor/Elevator Operator: You better go below Miss.
Rosemary goes down the stairs still naked. There is a naked room that is dark. It just has a red rose mattress on the floor with no sheets. Reminding us of the three vases full of "forgive-me-please-Rosemary" red roses that were in her apartment. The room has checker floors and the place is unlit. You can hear sizzling sounds. To her left all of a sudden a painting of some building is on fire. Then Rosemary gets on the bed and lies down.
A group of naked elderly people are surrounding her bed. She looks up to see a man in the turn of the century clothing leaning on books that are on a pedestal. The sounds of sizzling while the naked elderly people look at Rosemary.Roman is in some sort of ceremonial black cape and cap and is painting something in red on Rosemary's body. Guy is the only young person in the group and he is also naked. There are a lot of pressures for her to have a baby and I am sure pressures from her family.
Guy: She is awake she sees me
Minnie: She don't see. As long as she ate the Mouse she can't see nor hear. She's like dead. Now sing!
A woman who we can assume is Jackie Kennedy is gliding down a staircase. She comes to comfort Rosemary. This part is very dream like and another nod to Catholicism.
Jackie:I am so sorry to hear that you aren't feeling well.
Rosemary: It's only the mouse bite.
J: You better have your legs tied down in case of convulsion.
R: Yes I suppose so there is always a chance it was rabid.
Rosemary was talking about a mouse being rabid. But rarely do mice have rabies. It is interesting that Minnie serves "Mouse" ie Minnie Mouse which is a kid friendly cartoon while Minnie Castevet is not so gentile and sweet!Of course there is that urban legend that Walt Disney was into Satanism but that is probably because of such a clean image.
Two men in white tie her down Rosemary's legs like most psychiatric orderlies might have down in the past. What animals that do get rabies are more like a wolf or what Guy turned into when he was having sex with Rosemary. Has Rosemary been in institutions before? Is there a fear that guy might turn her into a mental institution? There was a time in the early 1900s where husband could commit a wife to a psychiatric institution solely at the discretion of the superintendent of the institution. Therefore if a woman argued too much or if he wanted a divorce he could just commit his wife to an insane asylum. Rosemary is pretty paranoid.
J: If the Music bothers you let me know and I'll have it stop,
R: Oh, no, no, no please don't change the program on my account!
J: Try to sleep. We will be waiting up on the deck.
Jackie Kennedy leaves gliding up the stairs. Guy comes in naked and he is transformed into the devil who is mauling Rosemary. There is a green mist that fills the air and it is making Rosemary high. It assumed to be Tannis root. Guy's eyes turn into tiger eyes of the devil. When she looks into his eyes she is no longer peaceful. Rosemary does not see Guy anymore as the man she first fell in love with. She has to justify this hatred of Guy by transforming him into the devil.
Rosemary: This is no Dream! This is really happening
She might then realize that she is not dreaming that Guy is raping her while she is unconsious but he is actually raping her! She might be more awake. This causes cognitive dissonance is Guy evil or is he her husband. What does this mean for her relationship? Then her face is covered by a dark satin sort of pillow or sheet. While Satan is mauling and raping her the pope comes.
Pope: I hear you have been bitten by a mouse.
Rosemary: Yes, That's why I couldn't come to see you.
P: That's all right. We wouldn't want you to jeopardize your health.
R: Am I forgiven, Father?
P: Oh, absolutely
Then we realize that the Pope is not the pope but rather some dark pope! Anton LeVey nickname was also the "Black Pope." The fact that Roman is portrayed as the dark pope makes this scene extra interesting. We realize this because the now revealed "black pope" shoves a tannis root ring in Rosemary's face. The ring is the same design as Rosemary's and Terry's shared "good luck charm." Then we hear a loud clicking of the clock. Time is ticking for Rosemary to be able to have a kid and she wants to keep the kid but forget about how the child was conceived. The story of the night of how Andy was born was the night that Guy raped Rosemary and that was finally the only way she could conceive. That was something that was going to require forgiveness and perhaps she was thinking about abortion of the baby? Not that she would go through with it but the only way that she would need to ask the Pope for forgiveness for being raped was divorce or abortion. Perhaps she was thinking about both? Yet we know that she keeps both of them in the first book. Rosemary talks later to her friends about how she was not going to have an abortion at the party. It seems to be really odd thing to say at a friendly wall to wall person party!
Rosemary wakes up. She has scratches all over her body.She wakes up and finds that guy had sex with her while she was asleep. He said that he already cut his nails and that he apologizes for getting out of control! That is the end of the dream scene and Rosemary seems to be in a fog.
I think that Rosemary was like many New York women of the time. During this time homemakers and wives were taking pills to make themselves thinner which had speed in them or were Valium. Lots of women and men suffered from the life of taking speed to be thinner, to be able to do more and then they had issues with sleeping so they had to take "downers." Even if she did not take pills there was an unhealthy watching of her weight and it was not from exercising because rarely do we even see her walk except in her house.
There might have been some anorexia before being pregnant. During the dinner scene before she and Guy conceive Andy she pretends to eat a lot of her food but rather puts it in a napkin. She barely had touched her food when Minnie rang the door bell and Guy already had his plate clean! She does not eat a lot and she only tasted the dessert. Is she dizzy from drinking and not eating rather than being drugged? Rosemary might have been so drunk or high that is why Guy had to drag her to bed.
These innocent housewives and Stepford wives we think existed in the 1960s were just women that were undercover junkies. "Valley of the Dolls" talks about this addiction of average to glamours women of the time. To be upfront I have only seen the movie of and it is totally overly soap opera but the ideas are very relevant. It also ironically did star Sharon Tate who originally Roman wanted to be in the movie "Rosemary's Baby." It is interesting with to note that Roman Polanski wrote the screenplay and wanted Sharon in the role. There is a scene where Rosemary invites all her young friends says to one of her friends and this is what is said:
Rosemary Woodhouse: [crying] I *won't* have an abortion!
Joan Jellico, Rosemary's Girlfriend: But no body's telling you to have an abortion!
Elise Dunstan: Rosie, a pain like that is a clear sign that something is not right. We just want you to get another opinion, see someone else, that's all.
Tiger, Rosemary's girlfriend: Yeah, some doctor besides that... that... *nut*!
knowing that Sharon was afraid to tell Roman that she was pregnant in fear that he would make her have an abortion is ironic. It is ironic when you see it in this context. It is also just odd with the conception scene where is she is asking for forgiveness from the Pope then later on in the book/movie she talks about how she won't have an abortion. Why does she blurt that out? Is she so upset that the baby was conceived from rape and she honestly believes that her child is a product of Satan. It is just odd.
The Valley of the Dolls has a character named "Nelly" played by Patty Duke who gets addicted to pills after her agents want her to lose weight. She does not eat, she boozes and takes pills to take off edges of other pills. The "Valley of the Dolls" book came out in 1966 which ironically is the year that Rosemary is pregnant. However the real reason Rosemary is pregnant in 1966 is significant is because that is when the Church of Satan begins.
Guy is all of a sudden away from her and she exhibits mood swings. Perhaps she is paranoia that Guy is going to leave her or has lost interest in her perhaps because he body is changing. Perhaps Guy's new career makes her paranoid that he is having an affair. She cannot understand how all of a sudden a man that was suppose to get a part in a play goes blind. She wants desperately to think ill of Guy and think that he on purpose took a tie in order to change the fate of the other actor. But rather this Rosemary that we see that is just so Midwestern and so innocent is not what she appears to be instead of her neighbors. She is ironically the only one that is not/has not been pregnant in her family.
I enjoy the book/movie of "Rosemary's Baby" but this book being written by Ira Levin we know there is more than what the words say on the page. Also Roman Polanski uses this as part of this Apartment film triology it was wedged between Repulsion and The Tenant. The Trilogy deals with paranoia and mental illness. There is more to this movie and brings up how sometimes the lead character of a book/movie is not a trust worthy source for truth. There are many themes: midwesterners vs New Yorkers, Midwesterns fears of the big city folks, drug use in the 1960s and Woman's position in the 1960s.
