N.Y. Film Festival: Dissecting the Roman Polanski arrest

Polish-born French film director Roman Polanski poses upon his arrival on September 27, 2011 at the 7th Zurich Film Festival - two years after his arrest in Zurich. / FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

NEW YORK "This case brings out such venom in all sides," said documentary filmmaker Marina Zenovich, when asked about the subject of her last two films: director Roman Polanski, who has lived in exile from the United States for more than three decades after fleeing a sentencing hearing on a statutory rape charge.

Zenovich's 2008 feature "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired" was originally planned to explore the celebrity's fugitive status, hiding in plain sight in Europe. But it ultimately became a cause celebre, when Zenovich uncovered what appeared to be judicial misconduct by the late Judge Laurence J. Rittenband. A winner of two Emmy Awards and a prize at the Sundance Film Festival, the film became Exhibit A of the defense team's renewed effort to get the longstanding warrant for Polanski's extradition erased.

Making documentaries, Zenovich said, is "really, really hard . It's almost like you're working with found objects, the found objects being - if you get people to talk to you - what they say to you. The problem is getting these people to talk.

"I think my first film was cathartic to everyone involved, and made them make peace with it," she said.

Yet her film also opened up a can of worms for all parties - Polanski; the D.A.'s office; the victim, Stephanie Geimer; and former prosecutor David Wells, who revealed damning evidence and then (once Zenovich's film debuted) recanted his remarks to CNN's Anderson Cooper. [Wells explained he lied because he thought the documentary would only be seen in France.]

Although Polanski had not cooperated with her for the first film, Zenovich had arranged to interview him as a follow-up, a study in how a documentary was able to move and possibly alter his long legal odyssey. Instead, she said, the notoriety brought to the case by her film may have prompted his capture.

Her new feature, "Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out," examines the stunning arrest of the director in 2009 as he traveled to Switzerland to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. Although Polanski owned a chalet in Gstaad and had traveled to Switzerland before, the Swiss authorities suddenly decided to honor an American arrest warrant - even contacting U.S authorities in Washington to alert them of Polanski's impending arrival.

Why? Could it have been pressure the Swiss government was feeling from the United States to release information about American citizens' Swiss bank accounts? Or the then-unraveling UBS banking scandal, involving more than $7 billion?

And whose idea was it to pursue Polanski now? Was it an attempt by the Los Angeles County D.A.'s office to correct a long-held embarrassment?

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[mishem]

If you ever read the official documents of the case, you would have learned that there never was any "drugging" or "raping": these charges were dropped. All the existing documents emphasize: outstanding maturity and sexual experience of S.Gailey, her obvious consent, and mother's crucial role in the evident setup (including a lame attempt to forge the evidence). As concluded by the probation department, "He is not a pedophile... The offense occurred as an isolated instance of transient poor judgment... The provocative circumstances, permissiveness and knowledge of circumstances by mother, physical maturity and willingness and provocativeness of victim, and the lack of coercion by defendant... all contribute to the above impression".

For a full analysis of the documents, see
http://polanski-oddmanout.blogspot.com/2011/03/famous-case-nobody-knows.html

[enaid3]

I agree that he must be prosecuted to the fullest. he's a cunning pervert and all these years he has had advantages of Hollywood help to pro-long the trial. It's time for him to face the music. Otherwise, what does this tell our future child molesters? The message is clear: You can beat the Rap. Where's all the women's groups?????

[imnho]

The way the defendant is going about things, he is thumbing his nose at the system. That is a poor way of avoiding prosecution. There maybe valid reasons not to persue this case; but just being Roman Polanski is not one of them.

[Lerianis4]

32 year old crime? Just drop it, to be blunt. To Eroteme2, this is not about 'mercy', it's about cost vs. benefit.

Let's have some pragmatism here and just drop this, it will cost more than it will benefit society.

But then again, I feel that is true of ALL the non-forced, non-drugged 'sex crimes' on the books, even those involving children who are not sexless in the slightest.

[Rldvs]

If Stephanie Geimer can say she doesn't want this idiot arrest after 30 odd years then why bother ?

[eroteme2]

It may be a 32-year old crime but this does not matter. He fled the court, fled the country. He now does not deserve mercy.

[americalove1]

Statuatory rape means that it was consensual sex but there is too great of an age difference. I can't remember what her age was at the time, but I think it was about 15 or 16.

Does that make it right? No, it doesn't.

Having said that, the other person involved no longer wants charges pressed. It should be her decision after al this time. They are waisting govt. money that should be going elsewhere.

He's 76 years old, went through having his wife and unborn child brutally murdered. He's paid enough. Time to let ti go.