Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
The invitation to the special screening of a new documentary about Roman Polanski had the imprimatur of 20 directors in solidarity with the exiled Oscar winning director, and then a disclaimer, that the filmmakers, on location, would not be on hand at the Paris Theater. Nevertheless, I spotted Sidney Lumet, Julian Schnabel, Alex Gibney, Taylor Hackford, Barry Levinson, Bennett Miller, Bob Balaban, Lasse Hallstrom, and a slew of actors: Dustin Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Emmy Rossum, Leelee Sobieski, Gretchen Mol, Julianna Margulies, Lena Olin, for the screening, some staying on for the buffet supper at the newly refurbished Plaza Hotel. It was like the old days, when the Plaza was a haven for fictitious little girls like Eloise, and for movie premieres of the most lavish sort: beef, bass, grilled chicken and veggies fit for kings. Carlos, my waiter, who had worked there for 25 years seemed pleased with lobby level luxury shops, saying that during the renovation, new rooms had been created, pockets of space no one had thought about now gave way to conference rooms on the 4th floor. But I digress.
Marina Zenovich's riveting “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" will air on HBO on June 9, and will be shown in theaters thereafter distributed by Mark Urman's ThinkFilm. Reading the papers, Zenovich came upon a story about Polanski's trial for raping a 13 year old in 1977, and thereafter fleeing the country. What is wrong with this picture, she thought and set about finding out. The resulting film uses provocative archival footage and interviews to trace Polanski's life in Hollywood, his unabashed obsession with young girls, the tragic circumstances of his pregnant wife Sharon Tate's murder by the Manson clan, the eerie echoes in his films, his Holocaust back story-mostly investigating the legal matters surrounding the trial, marked by a tricky judge who was out to get the infamous director. The result fascinates, not only in illuminating Polanski as a brilliant and charismatic character but as a revelation of our justice system. Polanski remains wanted in America, and desired in Pariswhere he resides with Emmanuelle Seigner, his wife for 18 years, and two children. Seigner starred most recently in Schnabel's “Diving Bell and the Butterfly” and in “Lou Reed's Berlin,” a hit at the recent Tribeca Film Festival. Though some of the hosting directors were not feasting at the Plaza, the girl in question was, her mother and husband in tow. Now Samantha Geimer (45) lives happily in Hawaii, having settled with Polanski out of court. Her mother Susan, conspicuously not in the film, was the proverbial elephant in the room dwarfing even the grandeur of the Plaza; you wanted to shake her while she glowingly invited everyone to visit in Kuaui. How she could leave a 13 year old child alone with Polanski remains a mystery, leaving all the celebrity and media moms at the premiere asking, what is wrong with this picture?
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