Apartment 7A (2024) film review: A ballet of ambition and control

Apartment 7A is a Paramount+ original film, released on the platform on September 27, 2024. The film revolves around Terry Gionoffrio, an aspiring dancer who wants to see her name in lights at a musical stage production. She moves into an apartment complex named Bramford, and soon things start to go wrong.

Set in 1965, the film is structured as a prequel to the 1968 thriller Rosemary's Baby. Though based on a cult classic, the new movie has only received an average rating of 5.4/10 on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing this article.

The official synopsis for Apartment 7A reads:

"A struggling dancer finds herself drawn into dark forces by a peculiar couple promising her fame."

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Apartment 7A and its predecessor Rosemary's Baby.

Apartment 7A review: A visually stunning film, with a slightly less ingenious story

A still from the film Apartment 7A (Image via YouTube/Paramount Plus)

Apartment 7A is a beautifully constructed film, but slightly lacking in storyline, especially when comparing it to its predecessor Rosemary's Baby. This article shall analyze the various aspects of the movie and try to reconstruct what makes it worth watching, along with what fell flat.

A visual spectacle, with the stage set for grandeur

Right from the beginning, Apartment 7A established a consistent and detailed visual design. The Bramford apartment was planned with great care, adding a touch of darkened mystery to the Satanic haven. It did an excellent job convincing the viewers of comforting opulence, with something dangerous lurking at its edges.

However, the most impressive setup was during one of Terry's dreams. She was led down a beautiful blue building and stairwell as if it were a backdrop on a stage. The dream featured the Castevets looking down at her from a balcony window, as she danced with Marchand, claiming her spotlight on the stage.

The deep blue tones of the scene provided an excellent contrast to the unnerving situation, where the viewers knew that Terry was in trouble.

The costumes further added to the beauty of Apartment 7A. The characters all had costumes fitting their characteristics, with small nods to the Satanic nature of the storyline peppered in.

This was also noticeable in Terry's costume for a Halloween party at Bramford, where the headgear she wore had two horns protruding from it with her other embellishments - a hint at how she had been linked to the Devil inseparably.

However, the true showstoppers were the dancers' costumes during the dress rehearsal for the musical. The vibrant makeup and choreography complemented the detailed costumes perfectly. Furthermore, the camerawork was conducted in a way that showed off the Amazonian outfits, making the scene a treat to watch.

A host of excellent actors

The cast of the film featured notable names like Julia Garner and Dianne Wiest in leading roles. Garner brought much nervous hesitation, true to her character, while also perfectly embodying Terry's ambition and love for dance.

Terry's swan song before the end of the film was a mixture of taking back her agency and the charisma of a performer at home on her stage. This was an emotion that Garner harnessed perfectly in the final scene.

Meanwhile, Dianne Wiest shone as Minnie Castevet. The character brought a creepy sweetness with her as soon as she appeared on screen, consistently maintaining that facade. It was scarier as the character grew to become more dangerous as the film progressed, maintaining a mask of care while grooming Terry into the cult.

Did the themes explored do justice to the storyline?

A still from the film (Image via YouTube/Paramount Plus)

The film, though an interesting watch on its own, pales in comparison to the original Rosemary's Baby. It tries to explore the fact that there were women who suffered similar fates, before Rosemary, but failed to delve into the themes that the original film put forth.

In Rosemary's Baby, the primary driving force behind the plot is the loss of Rosemary's agency and the fact that her own husband is the perpetrator of the horrors against her. Apartment 7A uses the skeletal plot structure of the film but shows that Terry is making decisions of her own volition.

Her ambition is the driving factor of her voluntary decisions. This makes the audience wonder, when Terry reclaimed her agency, at what point it was lost between her own choices.

Interestingly, Rosemary's story also ends with her being compelled into maternal instinct instead of escape, making her fate even more horrifying. The terror in the latest film was undercut by the inevitability of Terry's demise. Though, the film did make her last moments poetically interesting, by having her play a role that led to an intentional fall when her story started with an accidental one.

Audiences can now watch Apartment 7A streaming online on Paramount+.

Edited by Janhavi Chauhan