Legendary movie director Roman Polanski has been arrested on the behalf of the US government after thirty-two years. I tend to remember him for Rosemary’s Baby and The Ninth Gate (which I loved), but there’s also The Pianist, Tess (the one with Nastassja Kinski), Chinatown and Frantic.
In 1977, Polanski was accused of getting a 13 yr old teenage model intoxicated at Jack Nicholson’s house in LA, and then performing sexual acts on her. He entered into a plea deal, and was charged with unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. As part of the deal, he was allowed some time to finish up the film he was directing, and spent three months in psychiatric evaluation. He then fled the country to France, saying that the judge had broken the terms of the plea deal, and has stayed in Europe ever since.
Roman Polanski at the Karlovy Vary film festival
In 2005, possibly in retaliation for a documentary pointing out disturbing irregularities in the way Polanski’s case was handled, the US issued their first international arrest warrant for the director. The woman involved later went to the courts to get the case against her dismissed, pointing out that the fact it was still rolling on harmed her and her family, and saying that there had never been any other similar allegations against Polanksi, and she believed the director was genuinely sorry. At the start of the week, US officials discovered Polanski was due to appear at an awards ceremony in Zurich yesterday, and ‘negotiated’ with the Swiss authorities for an arrest under treaty terms. Polanski has had a home in Switzerland for well over a decade.
Polanski is currently imprisoned, pending possible limited release on bail. Various governments and public figures have shrieked in outrage, including France and Poland, The Swiss Director’s Institute, Robert Harris, Harvey Weinstein, and a range of other movie-related people. French culture minster Frederic Mitterand announced that “a scary America has shown its face”.
In addition to his troubled personal life, Polanski has had his share of difficult history. His parents moved the family back to Poland before WWII, and were incarcerated in the Krakow ghetto. His mother was killed in Auschwitz, although his father survived another concentration camp. Polanski himself managed to escape Krakow late in the war, surviving the remainder on the run. His second wife, acress Sharon Tate, was eight months pregnant when she and four friends were murdered by the Charles Manson family in 1969. It turned out that Manson’s actual targets had been a couple who had lived in that house some time previously. None of which is an excuse for drugging a 13yr old, of course.
“None of which is an excuse for drugging a 13yr old, of course.”
Agreed. He had a trial and fled before he was sentenced. There does not seem to be any denial that he actually did molest the girl. I appreciate his art, but that does not seem to be a good reason why he should escape justice.