Julia Garner in ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Prequel

Quickly after Rosemary (Mia Farrow), the protagonist of 1968’s Rosemary’s Child, strikes into the stately Renaissance revival constructing often called the Bramford along with her husband, she meets Terry Gionoffri. Their encounter is transient however impactful.

Terry, portrayed with infectious ebullience by Victoria Vetri, eases Rosemary’s nerves about her latest transfer, reassuring her that the New York house’s different occupants are sort. In flip, Rosemary affords Terry a hopeful companionship. The 2 promise to make their laundry journeys collectively as neither can stand the spooky basement. Earlier than they half methods, Terry tells Rosemary in regards to the Castevets, an older couple who helped her throughout a tough season. “I’d be lifeless now if it wasn’t for them,” Terry says, “that’s an absolute reality.” 

Paramount+’s Condo 7A, directed by Natalie Erika James (Relic), makes use of Terry to introduce a brand new era of viewers to that terrifying universe of Satanic cults and maternal purgatory first conjured by creator Ira Levin and additional popularized by Roman Polanski’s intense cinematic adaptation. James, who co-wrote the screenplay with Christian White and Skylar James, fills out Terry’s biography to elucidate her tragic destiny and strengthen the connection between her and Rosemary. It’s not a lot a prequel as it’s a parallel story that continues underscoring the restricted autonomy of ladies. Restrictive social mores entice each Rosemary and Terry, albeit in numerous methods. 

Whereas Rosemary is married and toys with the thought of getting a toddler, Terry is a single lady attempting to be a Broadway star. Condo 7A opens with Terry (Julia Garner) making ready for her theater debut in a backstage dressing room. Pleasure flashes throughout her eyes because the ingénue practices vocal warmups and places ending touches on her make-up. The glimmer dims when Terry later injures herself on stage. Unable to bounce, she self-medicates with capsules purchased from an area busker and develops an habit to painkillers. James portrays Terry’s descent into dependency with a laconic effectivity, which initially serves the narrative’s slow-burn tempo. 

With out a job, Terry depends on her good friend Annie (Marli Siu) for help. One other rejection catapults the damage performer right into a deeper melancholy. Terry turns into so determined that she follows Alan Marchand (Jim Sturgess), the producer of her most up-to-date audition, to his house on the Bramford, hoping to persuade him to offer her one other likelihood. However the doorman dismisses Terry on the entrance desk, and minutes later, she collapses on the sidewalk outdoors.

The plot picks up when Minnie (a superb Dianne Wiest) and Roman Castevet (Kevin McNally) rescue Terry. However the tone stays oddly mellow, not fairly inspiring the creeping dread of Polanksi’s adaptation, nor the jumpy fright usually abused by modern horror choices. Partial blame may lie within the makes an attempt to reconcile Terry’s actuality and her star aspirations. James contains quite a lot of musical sequences, often when Terry is between a waking and sleeping state. However these fever goals land extra as campy interruptions than as surreal and heightened hauntings. In addition they strip the subtlety out of Condo 7A’s extra understated messaging. 

The movie is determined for audiences to know that in accepting the Castevets’ generosity, Terry has assumed the position of a lifetime. Particulars of this place grow to be clearer after the dancer strikes into the vacant unit subsequent to the older couple. They start to handle Terry’s life in order that she ultimately lands a task in an enormous play and worries much less about cash. However something “free” has a tradeoff. Morning illness suggestions Terry off to her being pregnant and a go to to a well being clinic confirms it. Earlier than Rosemary carried the son of the antichrist, Terry did. Condo 7A doesn’t examine that fateful encounter between the 2 girls in Rosemary’s Child, however their interplay lives within the shadows, serving as a reminder of the Bramford residents’ depravity.  

Inheriting the position from Vetri, Ozark star Garner imbues the bubbly Terry with darker undertones. She finds some complexity in her ambition, which drives the character farther into the arms of the Castevets. There’s an assured effort on Garner’s half to do extra with the half, however a distance stays between the viewers and Terry.

Wiest will get nearer to narrowing that hole along with her character. She modulates her efficiency in order that Minnie’s character shifts slowly from an overbearing heat to an abrasive insistence. One of many strongest scenes sees Minnie, whereas giving Terry a haircut, talk that the dancer won’t ever be cleverer than she is. Other than the ultimate scene, Garner and Wiest are at their greatest on this nail-bitingly intense second. As Minnie’s grip tightens on Terry’s hair, the phrases of their settlement grow to be devastatingly clear: a child in change for fame. 

By way of Terry’s being pregnant, the film, just like Rosemary’s Child, underscores the themes of bodily autonomy. James’ movie is especially compelling in post-Roe America, when latest headlines about punitive legal guidelines barring abortion entry have lent it an pressing political valence, so it’s a disgrace that its vitality doesn’t all the time match its relevance. Conversations between Annie and Terry heighten the stakes, as does the more and more hostile relationship between Terry and Minnie, however most of Condo 7A feels too mellow for its messages.