With the request to release the 76-year-old filmmaker, modern movie stars: Monica Bellucci, Pedro Almodovar, David Lynch and Martin Scorsese. But can their opinion influence the well-functioning mechanism of the American judicial machine?
My novels with young models and actresses have not harmed anyone, "the director continues to insist.
As expected , the European campaign to free the popular filmmaker Roman Polanski is led by the French actress Emmanuelle Senie, who since 1989 has been a director in a legitimate marriage. She and many fans of the talent of the Polish-French director have many solid arguments. In particular, the fact that a minor victim of his sexual harassment and her family had long ago agreed with Roman and, having received a round sum, renounced their claims. And prominent cultural figures on both sides of the Atlantic talk about Polanski's contribution to the world cinema and remind that the scandalous thing was done with many violations ...
Whatever it was, but in Hollywood and in the world, the question again became actual whether genius and villainy are common: if you are talented and famous, do you have the right to condescension for justice?
Fatal mistake
Mulholland Drive, a famous street in the western part of Los Angeles, stretches at the foot of a mountain range. Most of the local residences are hidden behind a high hedge and spurs of mountains. In the City of Angels there are no finer species than here. And the villa of Jack Nicholson fits perfectly into this landscape ...
In March 1977, 43-year-old Polanski brought 13-year-old Samantha Gaylee (now she bears her husband's name - Gamer) for a second photo session for the French magazine Vogue Hommes. Nicholson was not at home - he was skiing in Colorado. This day turned the whole life of the popular filmmaker Roman Polanski. The director not only became the hero of one of the biggest scandals in the history of Hollywood, but also lost the opportunity to shoot directly in cinematic Mexico. What happened?
Polanski offered the girl champagne and a popular drug at that time, forced her to nude to immerse himself in the Jacuzzi, after which he himself joined her. Later they had sex. Upon returning home, Samantha was forced to tell all mothers, and she took her to the hospital and filed an application with the police. The director was immediately arrested.
Farewell to America
In exchange for willingness to cooperate with the investigation and confessing their guilt to Polanski, the primary charge of rape was replaced by a softer one - it was formulated as "an illegal sexual act with a minor". By order of the prosecutor, the director was sent to prison, where he was to undergo a 90-day psychiatric examination. There Polanski fascinated everyone, left and right handing out promises to shoot in their new paintings. Therefore, it is not surprising that the director of the prison and the local psychiatrist decided in 42 days that Polanski should not be examined longer, and should not be put in jail.
A special judicial representative came to the same conclusion , whose work consists of presenting recommendations on the verdict of the court. He said that Polanski should never be imprisoned, but he needed to ... write a fine immediately ...! Judge Lawrence Rittenband, who was in charge of the director's work, agreed with these recommendations, their lawyers on both sides did not dispute. While waiting for the verdict, Polanski received permission from the judge to travel to the Old World, where he was going to shoot his next film. In one of the clubs in Germany, as he himself claims, a group of young girls sat down to him. Someone took a photo, and it soon appeared in European and American tabloids. Judge Rittenband, seeing him, was simply shocked. He said that this picture is an obvious provocation of the popular filmmaker Roman Polanski, who wants to show that he does not regret what he did. The day before the verdict, in 1978, when Polanski had already returned from Germany, the judge summoned the prosecutor and the defendants' lawyers and told them that he was dissolving all the agreements and was going to sentence the director to 50 years in prison. It was assumed that after the sentencing Polanski also deported from the United States. The defenders were shocked and protested, but Roman himself did not wait for the next day. He got into the car, went to the airport and flew to France, which does not have an extradition treaty with the US. As an American citizen, in France he could feel completely safe.
The end of the exile?
Polanski never concealed that sex is very important to him. Not surprisingly, one of his best friends was always Hugh Hefner, the owner of Playboy and the owner of a chic villa, in which dozens of beautiful young girls who never left Roman indifferent were constantly frolicking. And after the tragic death of the director's wife, actress Sharon Tate, Polanski's intrigues with young girls have become a constant subject of gossip in Hollywood. The loudest novel of the director, already 50-year-old, in Europe was a connection with the 15-year-old actress Nastasya Kinski. In a conversation with the famous American journalist Diane Savier in 1987 - this was Polanski's first interview for the American media after fleeing the US - he defended his relationship with Kinsky, stressing that no one felt any worse from it. Kinski's star was kindled, in fact, thanks to Roman, who starred in the main role in the film "Tess", and after their separation, Nastasya became a happy mother. In the same conversation, the director confirmed that "ordinary love is terribly boring and tedious."
However, pressed to the wall of Savier, who was inquiring into the details of his scandalous affair, he admitted that sex with a 13-year-old girl "can not be taken as a model." Well, and having married in 1989 to Emmanuel Sznier, Roman and at all turned into an exemplary family man. Polanski has never been seriously criticized and condemned for his forced flight from the United States. In France, he felt safe, traveled a lot and, incidentally, even visited his native Poland. And all this time prosecutors from Los Angeles did not make much effort to arrest the popular filmmaker Roman Polanski. The situation dramatically changed in July this year, when Roman's lawyers wished to annul the writ of execution, stressing that it was only a scrap of paper that American justice had almost left the director alone for a long time. But prosecutors saw this as a challenge from Polanski ...
What is the position of the famous director now? It is highly likely that Polanski is forced to return to the US and stand trial in Los Angeles. The case of extradition may drag on for long months, which Polanski will hold in a Swiss prison. If his lawyers find out that it will not be possible to escape, they will themselves beg Polanski not to delay the matter. In the meantime, they do not lose hope of finding a rapport with the Los Angeles attorney about the further course of judicial proceedings. The prosecutor's office should in the meantime take several key decisions: will it demand a cancellation of the decision after 31 years, or will Polanski again be tried for contact with a minor and what punishment does it require. At Polanski on his hands a lot of trumps, which - if successfully played - will help him well. First of all, it is to his advantage - all illegal judicial actions and violations of rights, which were admitted in 1977. In addition, Polanski can repent and show willingness to be punished.
Most likely , he will not be imprisoned or, at least, will spend a short time there. The skilled lawyers hired by the director will help him to be released. No one is particularly interested in punishing Polanski. In the end, if not for the talkativeness of his lawyers, Roman would hardly have been detained by the Swiss police ...