Julia Garner in ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ prequel

Soon after, Rosemary (played by Mia Farrow), the protagonist of “1968” rosemary’s babyMoving into Bramford, a grand Renaissance Revival building with her husband, she met Terry Gionoffri. Their encounter, although brief, had a profound impact.

Victoria Vetri portrays Terry with infectious enthusiasm, allaying Rosemary’s nervousness about her recent move and assuring her that the other residents of her New York apartment are friendly. Rosemary, in turn, provides Terry with hopeful companionship. Neither of them could stand the spooky basement, so they decided to go to the laundromat together. Before they parted ways, Terry told Rosemary the story of the Castowitzes, an older couple who helped her through difficult times. “Without them, I would be dead right now,” Terry said. “That’s the absolute truth.”

Paramount+ Apartment 7Adirected by Natalie Erica James (remains), used Terry to introduce a new generation of viewers to the horrific world of satanic cults and maternal purgatory originally created by writer Ira Levin and made famous by Roman Polanski’s intense It was further popularized by the film adaptation. James, who co-wrote the script with Christian White and Skyler James, fills in Terry’s biography to explain her tragic fate and strengthen the connection between her and Rosemary. This is not so much a prequel as a parallel story that continues to emphasize women’s limited autonomy. Restrictive social conventions get both Rosemary and Terry into trouble, albeit in different ways.

Rosemary is married and toying with the idea of ​​having a baby, while Terry is a single woman who wants to be a Broadway star. Apartment 7A The film opens with Terry (Julia Garner) preparing for her theatrical debut in a backstage dressing room. The ingénue’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she practiced her voice warm-up and put on her final makeup. The light dimmed when Terry was later injured on stage. Unable to dance, she self-medicated with pills purchased from local buskers and became dependent on painkillers. James charts Terry’s descent into dependence with a succinct and efficient manner that initially suits the slow pace of the narrative.

Terry has no job and can only rely on his friend Anne (Marie Xiao) to maintain his life. Another rejection can send the wounded performer into a deeper depression. Terry becomes so desperate that she follows the producer of her latest audition, Alan Marchand (Jim Sturgess), to his Bramford home in the hope of convincing him to give her another chance . But the doorman dismissed Terry at the front desk, and minutes later she collapsed on the sidewalk outside.

The plot begins to unfold when Minnie (the excellent Dianne Wiest) and Roman Castelveit (Kevin McNally) rescue Terry. But the tone remains surprisingly subdued, and doesn’t quite inspire the creepy scares of Polanquez’s adaptation, nor the jumpy scares so often abused in contemporary horror works. Part of the blame may lie in trying to reconcile Terry’s reality with her aspirations for stardom. James includes many musical sequences, often when Terry is between waking and sleeping states. But these fever dreams are more of a contrived distraction than surreal and highly disturbing. They also strip away subtlety Apartment 7AMore low-key messaging.

The film desperately wants viewers to understand that, in accepting the Castelvetzes’ generosity, Terry has taken on the role of a lifetime. The details of the location became clearer once the dancers moved into the vacant unit next to the older couple. They began to manage Terry’s life so that she would eventually get a role in a big drama and stop worrying about money. But anything “free” comes with a price. Terry suspected she was pregnant due to morning sickness, and a visit to a clinic confirmed this. Terry was pregnant before Rosemary became pregnant with the Antichrist’s son. Apartment 7A The fateful meeting between these two women is not investigated rosemary’s babybut their interactions lurk in the shadows, a reminder of the depravity of Bramford residents.

Inheriting the role of Vetri, Ozark Star Garner brings a darker tone to the bubbly Terry. She discovers that her ambitions are somewhat complicated, pushing the character further into the arms of the Castelvez family. Garner is definitely trying to do more with the character, but there’s still a distance between the audience and Terry.

West is getting closer to closing the gap with her character. She adjusts her performance so that Minnie’s character slowly shifts from imperious warmth to gruff persistence. One of the strongest scenes is when Minnie gives Terry a haircut to convey the message that dancers will never be the wiser than she is. With the exception of the final scene, Garner and West are at their best in this nail-biting tense moment. As Minnie clutches Terry’s hair, the terms of their agreement become crystal clear: a baby in exchange for fame.

Through Terry’s Pregnancy, this movie, similar to rosemary’s babyemphasizing the theme of bodily autonomy. James’ film is particularly compelling in post-Roe America, where recent headlines about punitive laws banning abortion have given it urgent political value, so it’s a shame that its energy doesn’t always match its relevance. . The dialogue between Anne and Terry raises the stakes, as does the increasingly hostile relationship between Terry and Minnie, but mostly Apartment 7A It feels too soft for its message.