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Rosemary, in Mia Farrow's performance, is so immediately recognizable that everything that happens to her, happens to us. Her explanation to Dr Hill (Charles Grodin) about the absurdity she's at the center of, is so brilliantly written that she becomes more than just one of us, she becomes us in all the depth of our unspoken fears. To see this film in 2007 is really amazing. Perfection! And that for our benefit. Polanski is not one of those directors who concocts camera tricks to feed his own ego. Everything is at the service of the story. John Cassavettes is a scarily convincing weakling with an ambition bigger than his talent. Ruth Gordon got, what I, in my modest opinion, consider one of the most deserving Oscars in the history of the Oscars. Her performance is beyond superb. Okay, I'm running out of superlatives but let me finish with one more...Roman Polanski is the greatest.

Adrian LeDuc is a nut. Everyone knows that. His neighbors talk about him in a whisper. They've never been inside his apartment and their imagination takes them through the most perverse scenarios. They couldn't possibly imagine the innocence of the man or his loneliness. Colin Firth creates a character with a million different faces without ever changing his. He could be an emotional wax work. The fact that he invents an identity for himself shouldn't come as a big surprise, he doesn't have one of his own and that is abundantly clear from the first time we see him. He is in the projection booth of his movie theater looking at the screen as if he was in the peep room of a sex shop - Ironic how things are going to turn out. "Apartment Zero" is almost 20 years old but it feels ahead of its time, still. I was able to see it again in its theatrical version with those 6 minutes missing from the video release. Oh what a difference 6 minutes make. There are moments that underline Adrian's loneliness at the beginning, so powerful that the lecture of the entire film is based on the effect provoked by those chilling moments. Adrian/Colin talking to himself at night for instance. Hart Bochner (what an intriguing piece of casting) makes a star entrance that seems to come straight out of Adrian/Colin's cinematic mind. The star has arrived and everything is about to change. Everything will be destined to cater his comfort and well being. Laundry, breakfasts. The star is essential in the movie of Colin/Adrian's life. Hart Bochner - his character's name is Jack Carney, "carne" in Spanish means "meat" - realizes very soon the power he has over Adrian but he doesn't know how to use it. His own feelings (first he discovers to have feelings in a superlative piece of subtle, brilliant acting) get mangled and his frustration takes different forms. Hart intermingles with each one of the neighbors. Those moments in themselves are like short movies with their own kind feel. Suspenseful, erotic, farcical, romantic. - If you listen to Martin Donovan's (the director) commentary in the DVD he credits his actors for practically everything but there is a love there that I'm sure allowed him to get into the darkness with such assured step, fearlessly. The DVD also includes a great exchange between David Koepp and Steven Sodebergh - "Apartment Zero" is unmissable from every front.