Two Satanic Polanski Films

Two Satanic Polanski Films

by Michael Robertson

While Roman Polanski’s 1999 film, The Ninth Gate, and 1968 film, Rosemary’s Baby, share Satanism in common, the films differ in that Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) has neither interest or knowledge of the Devil, but Dean Corso (Johnny Depp) at first searches for the Devil accidentally as part of his job, as a rare book dealer, but then after he glimpses the power of evil he actively pursues finding the Devil. Both films begin in New York City: Rosemary and the film, stays in New York City in an almost prison-like atmosphere, but Dean travels throughout Europe looking for the Devil, and he unlike Rosemary is not alone: he encounters many people who also share his satanic passion. In both films there is a character who warns the protagonist that danger lies ahead.

"What are you looking for Mr. Corso? Some Books are not to be opened with impunity" (The Ninth Gate).

After Victor Fargas (Jack Taylor) warns Dean, he of course proceeds to open all of the dangerous books.) Hutch (Maurice Evans) also warns Rosemary about moving into the Bramford, and then he gives her a book giving her the anagram that reveals Roman Casevet as Adrian Marcato's son. 

Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) solves the anagram ("Rosemary's Baby 1968").

Hutch also gives Rosemary an anagram, and these letters hide a secret: Roman Castevet is Adrian Marcato's son, so books and words are dual symbols of danger and knowledge in both films. The elements of these films, the Devil and prophetic books, could easily veer into absurdity, but the Polanski’s trademark tone of cynical realism is effective in both films at balancing the realistic evil with the satanic evil. Perhaps the difference of thirty-one years affects the films judgment of people, but in Rosemary’s Baby the Satan worshippers are part of an almost familial religious cult, but in The Ninth Gate they are more like a club of cynical and literary dilettante. Whatever method Polanski takes he achieves the same goals: the audience and the protagonists feel the danger of being alone among zealots and cynics on the road to Hell. Polanski closes that road to Hell elegantly: though he shows the Devil and momentarily in Rosemary’s Baby, in both films he never dwells on the visual representation of the Devil. The audience feels the danger of the Devil, so they do not need to see the Devil: Polanski uses the Devil in each viewers mind to haunt them rather than use a crude visual representation. There are few filmmakers who can scare an audience while at the same time provoke them to think, but Polanski is one of them. 

Works Cited

The Ninth Gate. Dir Roman Polanski. Perf Johnny Depp, Lena Olin, Frank Langella, and James 

        Russo. Artisan, 1999. DVD

“Rosemary’s Baby 1968.” Web log Post. Dreams What Le Cinema Is for. Le Cinema Dreams, 30 

         Sept. 2011. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

A Critical View of Rosemary's Baby by Ernest Hardy:

A Summary

by Michael Robertson

[Rosemary’s Baby] is, arguably, one of the finest horror films ever made” (Hardy qtd. in Schneider 492).     

           

                                                                        --Ernest Hardy

        Ernest Hardy, a Sundance Fellow and film critic, argues that Rosemary's Baby (1968) is a classic film because of director Roman Polanski's use of disturbing and bizarre images (such as the rape and hallucination sequence, Rosemary eating raw meat, and Rosemary holding a knife in from of her baby's cradle) that paradoxically touch on universal themes (such as betrayal, corruption, the boundaries of sanity, the mysteries of woman) (492). The film disturbs the audience with its quietly growing terror, and Polanski adds to this by his masterful sense of suspense and dread, Hardy asserts (492). Hardy adds that the terror of the film endures despite the passage of time, and the unintentional off-screen humor actress Mia Farrow elicits (492). (This is a film about bearing children, and Farrow famously has adopted many children.) 

"Polanski's masterful manipulation of... existential fears gives the film its power" (492).

                                                                                    --Ernest Hardy

All of the elements of evil come together, for Hardy, in the scene where the baby's kicking legs reassure Rosemary that the child is alive, but her husband recoils from touching her womb because he knows she is carrying the Devil's baby (Hardy qtd. in Schneider 492). The evil inside of Rosemary's womb is symbolic of the more universal fear of being unable to trust other people and one self, Hardy comments (492). The audience identifies with Rosemary's claustrophobic isolation and her loss (whether by betrayal or death) of loved ones, her husband, Hutch, and the baby (492).  Evil is outside, around, and finally inside Rosemary and her baby, Hardy concludes (492).    

Work Cited

Hardy, Ernest. "Rosemary's Baby." 1001 Movies: You Must See Before You Die. Ed. Steven 

        Schneider. Hauppage, New York: Barron Educational Series, 2002. Print.

                                                                                                             

Rosemary's Baby: A Story of Inverted Religion

Rosemary's Baby: A Story of Inverted Religion  

by Michael Robertson

Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) looks at a magazine while waiting for the devil worshipping Dr. Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy) (Emerson).

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/2008/12/rosemarys_baby_remake_aborted.html

       The theme of inverted religion runs throughout the film, Rosemary's Baby (1968). The film answers the question, “Is God Dead?” with a chilling yes. At the end of the film, the audience confronts the prospect of God being dead while the Devil and his son, Adrian, are alive. On the road to this disturbing conclusion, the film turns the biblical story of the Annunciation and the Holy Family on its head. Rosemary Woodhouse replaces the biblical Mary, and the Devil supplants God, in this retelling of the New Testament. The parallelism between the two human mothers of divine babies is very obvious, and other writers note this parallel as well. Tony Williams, Professor of English and the Director of Film Studies at the University of Southern Illinois, notes in his book Hearths of Darkness: The Family in the American Horror Film, "Guy and Rosemary become Joseph and Mary in a new satanic order inversely paralleling the Christian Messiah (Williams qtd. in Sullivan, Greenberg, and Landau 193). The film makes Williams’ claim about the inverted story of the Holy family explicit. Roman Catevet says, "He [Satan] came up from Hell, and begat a son of mortal woman" (Rosemary's Baby). The idea of a deity mating (willingly and unwillingly) with a mortal human is not exclusive to Christianity, but it is one of the central images and stories in Christian and Western culture, so this inversion is particularly disturbing for those people who grew up in this cultural and religious tradition. Returning to the comparison between these families, there is the almost too obvious allusion between Rosemary's name and the biblical Mary’s name. (Besides the obvious parallel between the names of Mary, the rose is a prominent symbol of the biblical Mary.) There are, however, more important differences: unlike Mary, Rosemary is not a willing participant in this human-divine partnership. While the Angel Gabriel impregnates Mary through the immaculate conception, the Devil brutally rapes Rosemary (with her husband's, Guy, consent). Mary knows what is happening to her, but Guy and the Castevets try to hide the evil that is around and inside Rosemary. Rosemary’s husband shockingly helps arrange the rape of his wife by the Devil. Guy’s bargain with the Devil helps to destroy religion, so he is the antithesis of St. Joseph, the patron saint of the Roman Catholic Church. The biblical Joseph is faithful to both his wife and his God, but Guy betrays both Rosemary and God when he agrees to play the role of Joseph in this unholy retelling of advent of Jesus. No one can imagine Mary spitting in Joseph's face, but in this story that is an appropriate response, to Guy's actions. 

This photograph is a screen shot of the scene when the pope (played by Michael Shillo) visits Rosemary at the witch's coven ("John F. Kennedy and Rosemary's Baby").                      http://merovee.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/john-f-kennedy-and-rosemarys-baby/

Not only is God dead in this film, religious authorities cannot be trusted. Another inversion comes with the pope: when the rape occurs, Rosemary dreams that the pope is present. Rosemary tells Minnie Castevet that she is a lapsed Catholic, but she asks the pope for forgiveness; however, it is really the pope who should ask her forgiveness. When Rosemary goes to kiss the pope’s ring, she realizes that it is exactly like the evil charm that the Casstevet’s require her to wear. Collusion between the supposedly good and the Devil is a recurring theme for every character in the film, from her husband to the pope; however, no one can help Rosemary because evil inverts everything in her world. 

Screen shot of the Devil's son Adrian (Stridsigne)     http://videowordmadeflesh.com/2011/06/19/screenshot-saturday-roman-polanskis-rosemarys-baby/

The final inversion and betrayal comes from within Rosemary's own body. When her baby stares out at her, the final inversion occurs when a new-born baby is an incarnation of evil. The upside-down crucifix above his cradle is the ultimate symbol of this new world of religious and moral inversion. When Rosemary sees her misbegotten child she is carrying a knife, and she could have kill the Devil’s son, but this good person inverts into being evil because of the influence of the Devil and her need to be a mother. Caring for the Devil’s son makes a mockery of motherhood, and Rosemary’s acquiescence about being Adrians’s mother shows that no one is immune from inverting to evil. For Rosemary the birth of Adrian marks the death of God.   

  

Works Cited

Emerson, Jim. "Re: Rosemary's Baby Remake Aborted; God Not Dead?" Web log comment. Jim 

          Emerson's Scanner Blog. Chicago Sun-Times, 22 Dec. 2005. Web. 28, Mar. 2013. 

“John F. Kennedy and Rosemary’s Baby.” Web log post. Merovee. Worldpress.com, 16 Oct. 2011. 

          Web. 28 Mar. 2013.

Rosemary’s Baby. Dir. Roman Polanski. Perf. Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon and Sidney 

         Blackmer. Paramount, 1968. DVD.  

Stridsigne, Guy. "Re: Screenshot Saturday: Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby (1968)." Web log 

         comment. Screenshot Saturday. Video World Made Flesh, 19 June 2011. Web. 28 Mar. 2013

Sullivan, Daniel, Jeff Greenberg, and Mark J. Landau. "Toward a New Understanding of two Films  

         from the Dark Side: Utilizing Terror Management Theory to Analyze Rosemary's Baby and   

         Straw Dogs." Journal Of Popular Film & Television 37.4 (2009): 189-198. Academic Search 

         Complete. Web. 28 Mar. 2013.