Polanski, Roman

Childhood

Roman Polanski was born in France , in Paris , on August 18, 1933 into a Jewish family. He had an older sister Aneta from his mother’s first marriage. When he was three years old, his parents returned to Poland and settled in Krakow (where his father's family lived) ^[7] . During the German occupation, they were interned in the Krakow ghetto . His mother, Bula Libling (nee Katz-Predborsk) ^[8] , died in Belzec , and his father, Ryszard (Moises) Libling (1903-1984), managed to survive in Plachuv and Mauthausen . After the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto until the end of the war, the boy was hid by a Polish family in agreement with his father. He recalls that the Nazis used him as a target in firing. Having survived the Second World War and survived in the Krakow ghetto , Polanski found himself in art. In 1945, he managed to find his father, who sent him to study at a technical school, but soon Roman begins to work on children's television, plays in radio shows and in the theater: plays the main role in the production of Valentin Kataev 's popular novel “ The Son of the Regiment ” (1948, Warsaw Theater young viewer). Roman decided to connect his life with the movie after watching the English film “ Out of the Game ”, which made a strong impression on him.

Polish period

The youth of Roman Polansky fell on the socialist period in the history of Poland. In 1953, a twenty-year-old actor first appeared in films; in 1955, receives a role in the film " Generation " by Andrzej Wajda , - Wajda helps to enter the Film School in Lodz .

One of Polansky’s directorial work was the short film Murder (1957): someone enters a room and kills a sleeping person. The horror film lasted two minutes. His other student film, “Two Men with a Cabinet” (1958), received 5 international awards, including the bronze medal of the World Exhibition in Brussels . Polanski graduated from film school in Lodz in 1959.

In 1959, Polanski married actress Barbara Kwiatkowska , with whom he lived in marriage until 1962 . In the same year, Polanski made his first full-length film, “ Knife in the Water, ” coolly received in Poland , but made a sensation at foreign festivals and nominated for an Oscar as the best foreign film.

Anglo-American period

After filming the film, Polanski moved to France, where he met Gerard Braque . Together they wrote the scripts for the films Disgust (received the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival ) and Dead End (received the Golden Bear ). These two films were shot in England , where the director lived from 1964 to 1968.

In 1968, after marrying the American actress Sharon Tate , whom he met on the set of his first color film, Fearless Vampire Hunters , he moved to the United States . He made his debut in Hollywood with the film “ Rosemary's Baby ” (1968), which became a significant milestone in the history of cinema. The main role in the film was played by Mia Farrow .

Polansky's success in Hollywood was overshadowed by the murder of his pregnant wife and three friends in 1969 by members of the Charles Manson group. After the murder, Polanski went to Europe for several years. This tragedy greatly influenced all his further work.

In 1974, Polanski returned to the United States, where he made a film based on Robert Town ’s script “ Chinatown ”, in which Jack Nicholson and Fay Dunaway starred. The film was awarded the Golden Globe for directing and was nominated for an Oscar in 11 nominations (in almost all categories it was beaten by The Godfather 2 ).

Criminal prosecution

In 1977, Polanski was charged with raping a thirteen-year-old girl, Samantha Gamer (then known as Samantha Galey) at the home of actor Jack Nicholson in Los Angeles. Fashion model Gamer, whom Polanski had allegedly invited to shoot for the French edition of Vogue, recalled that Polanski gave her champagne and the drug Kvaalud ( metaqualone ) ^[10] , after which he forced her to have oral and anal sex ^{[11] [12]} . Following his arrest and indictment, Polanski pleaded guilty to sexual relations with a minor in order to mitigate the charges through a guilty plea agreement ^[13] because he was initially charged with raping a child under the age of 14 using alcohol and drugs ^[14] . Prior to the sentencing and subject to an agreement between the prosecutor's office and the director’s lawyers, Polanski agreed to undergo a psychiatric examination for three months at the Criminal Hospital in Chino, California. Upon his return from prison, Polanski was informed by the lawyer that the judge who was considering his case informed him that he had changed his position and did not intend to accept the recommendation of the prosecutor’s office to impose a suspended sentence on Polanski. This was a violation of the contract reached by the director’s lawyers with the prosecutor’s office and previously approved by the same judge, and on February 1, 1978 , immediately before the verdict was passed, Polanski fled from the United States to Great Britain (to London). And then, in order to avoid extradition , to France, he also lived in Switzerland and Poland ^[15] .

Subsequently, other accusations surfaced in the press. For example, the British actress Charlotte Lewis stated that the director took possession of her force in a Paris house during the filming of the movie Pirates in 1983, when she was 16 years old ^{[16] [17]} .

In May 2018, the U.S. Film Academy expelled Polanski from its ranks. In April 2019, the director’s lawyer filed a petition to restore Polanski’s status to the American Film Academy ^[18] .

French period

The director directed the subsequent films in Europe , mainly in France .

In 1979, the painting " Tess " was released, for which Polanski was nominated for an Oscar in 1981, and also received the Cesar Prize. This picture Polanski dedicated to his murdered wife, Sharon Tate . Starring German actress Nastasya Kinsky became Polanski's mistress at age 15 ^{[19] [20] [21]} . Earlier, in 1976, she starred in a photo shoot for the French magazine Vogue , whose invited editor was Polanski ^{[22] [23]} .

In 1989, the third wife of Polansky was the French actress and model Emmanuelle Seigner ; she bore him two children - a daughter Morgana and a son Elvis. Polanski shot it in his films Frantic , Ninth Gate , Bitter Moon , Venus in Furs , Based on Real Events .

In 1999, Roman Polanski directed the mystical thriller The Ninth Gate , in which Johnny Depp played the main role.

In 2002, the director turned to the subject of the Holocaust , which he personally suffered, and made the film The Pianist . The jury, led by David Lynch, awarded the Golden Palm Branch to the Cannes Film Festival , and starring Adrien Brody became the youngest Oscar winner for Best Actor .

May 3, 2018, along with Bill Cosby, was expelled from the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts for sexual harassment ^[24] .

Extradition decisions in Switzerland and Poland

In September 2009, Roman Polanski arrived in Switzerland to receive an award for his directorial career. The organizers of the Zurich Film Festival said the filmmaker was arrested on September 26, 2009 by police on a warrant issued in the United States dated 1978, as well as on the basis of a 2005 international arrest warrant. Since Polanski pleaded guilty and hid from the court, according to American law, the principle of limitation does not apply to him ^[25] .

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand said he was struck by the arrest of Polanski. The ministry’s communique said that Mitterrand regrets the director’s arrest and the French minister “was amazed at the actions against Roman Polanski, a world-famous film director and a French citizen who was detained in Switzerland,” the document said ^[26] .

Several dozen well-known filmmakers signed an appeal in support of Polanski. Among them, Woody Allen , David Lynch , Martin Scorsese , Wim Wenders , Darren Aronofsky , Terry Gilliam , Pedro Almodovar and others. ^{[27] [28]} Famous actresses Fanny Ardan and Monica Bellucci also expressed their regret over the arrest of Polanski. Nikita Mikhalkov also stood up for the director ^[29] .

The foreign ministers of France and Poland said they intend to appeal to US President Barack Obama to pardon Polanski and close the criminal case against him ^[30] . California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to pardon the director ^[31] . The Los Angeles Court of Appeals also refused to close the Polanski case. ^[32]

While the director was under arrest at the Berlin Film Festival , the premiere of his new film, The Ghost , took place; the film was awarded the Silver Bear for best directing. On July 12, 2010, the Swiss authorities refused to extradite Polanski to the United States and release the director from house arrest .

On October 30, 2014, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Rafal Tshaskovsky said that Poland sees no reason to detain Roman Polanski and hand him over to the US authorities ^[33] .

In October 2015, a Polish court (as before the courts of other European states) refused to extradite Polanski to the United States. The courts took into account that the victim herself, becoming an adult, has repeatedly confirmed that she has no complaints against the director ^[34] .

Almost all of Polansky’s films shot after the Vampire Ball are based on literary sources.

Many of his paintings (especially the "classical" period ending with the "Resident") immerse the viewer in a sense of psychological isolation and paranoia . The heroes of the “room trilogy” (“Disgust”, “Rosemary's Baby”, “Resident”) are inexorably descending into the abyss of madness, the world of these films is filtered out by the mentally unhealthy protagonist , the endings have an element of uncertainty, the interpretation is left to the viewer.

Polanski is one of the most pessimistic directors. The protagonist of his film, as a rule, faces a threat of moral and sometimes physical violence from the forces of irrational, demonic, not accessible to his understanding ^{[36] [37]} . Moreover, these forces in most cases win; sometimes it ends with the protagonist losing his mind.

Evil at Polansky can take many different forms:

• Mental : the honeymoon turns into a series of humiliating bullying from the unfaithful wife and the brigand who came from where (“ Dead End "), for a psychopath like Hitchcock’s Marnie, the touch of any man evokes a traumatic memory of his father’s harassment (“ Disgust ”), the loser emigrant feels himself not only neutered, but also literally turning into a woman (" Resident ").
• Mystical : a young man is sexually harassed by ghouls rising from the grave (“ Vampire Ball ”), an unprincipled second-hand bookkeeper is unknown to himself in bed with the devil (“ Ninth Gate ”), and on the naked body of a girl brought up by nuns, Satan makes a black Mass (" Baby Rosemary ").
• Socio-political : a refined Jewish intellectual is caught in the rage of the brutal Nazis (“The Pianist ”), an unlucky writer and engineer spends the night in bed with a CIA agent who inspired world-wide crimes (“ The Phantom ”), a naive child of noble blood is drawn into a gang of cynical thieves (" Oliver Twist ").

Polanski is one of the most influential filmmakers of the post-war era. For example, his film Rosemary's Baby (1969) gave rise to the 1970s fashion for mystical horror films (The Exorcist , Omen , The Radiance ). "Disgust" has become a guide for adherents of surreal imagery and finely psychologized endings. Chinatown anticipated the rise of the neo-noir genre in the 1990s. The Coen Brothers film “ Barton Fink ” (to which the Cannes jury led by Polansky awarded the “Golden Palm Branch”), according to the creators, is a homage in honor of Polanski from the “room trilogy” ^[38] . And if Lodz formed the absurdism of young Polansky, then the director who awarded the director the Golden Palm Branch (The Pianist, 2002), David Lynch, at a very mature age, paid tribute to this city by filming here his Inner Empire (2006).

Director

• 1962 - Knife in the water / Nóż w wodzie
• 1965 - Repulsion
• 1966 - Dead End / Cul-de-Sac
• 1967 - The Fearless Vampire Killers / The Fearless Vampire Killers
• 1968 - Rosemary's Baby
• 1971 - The Tragedy of Macbeth
• 1972 - What? / What?
• 1974 - Chinatown / Chinatown
• 1976 - Resident / Le Locataire
• 1979 - Tess / Tess
• 1986 - Pirates
• 1988 - Frantic / Frantic
• 1992 - Bitter Moon
• 1994 - Death and the Maiden
• 1999 - The Ninth Gate
• 2002 - The Pianist / The Pianist
• 2005 - Oliver Twist
• 2010 - The Ghost / The Ghost Writer
• 2011 - Carnage
• 2013 - Venus in furs / La Vénus à la fourrure
• 2017 - Based on Real Events / D'après une histoire vraie
• 2019 - Dreyfus Case / J'accuse

Short films

• 1955 - Bicycle / Rower - The film is not finished
• 1957 - The Murder / Morderstwo
• 1957 - We accelerate the dance / Rozbijemy zabawę
• 1957 - Toothy Smile / Uśmiech zębiczny
• 1958 - Two Men with a Wardrobe / Dwaj ludzie z szafą
• 1959 - Lamp
• 1959 - When the Angels Fall / Gdy spadają anioły
• 1961 - Fat and Skinny / Gros et le maigre, Le
• 1962 - Mammals / Ssaki
• 2007 - Each has its own movie / Chacun son cinéma - episode "Erotic Cinema"
• 2009 - Greed, a new fragrance from Francesco Vezzoli / GREED, a New Fragrance by Francesco Vezzoli
• 2012 - Therapy / A Therapy

Actor

• 1953 - Three Tales / Trzy opowieści (segment Jacek )
• 1955 - Magic Bike / Zaczarowany rower
• 1955 - Three Starts / Trzy starty
• 1955 - Bicycle / Rower
• 1955 - Generation / Pokolenie
• 1956 - An Extraordinary Career / Nikodem Dyzma
• 1957 - Shipwreck / Wraki
• 1957 - The End of the Night / Koniec nocy
• 1958 - Eroica
• 1958 - Two Men and a Wardrobe / Dwaj ludzie z szafą
• 1958 - Call My Wife / Zadzwońcie do mojej żony?
• 1959 - When the Angels Fall / Gdy spadają anioły
• 1959 - The Flying / Lotna
• 1960 - Cross - eyed happiness / Zezowate szczęście
• 1960 - Goodbye, see you tomorrow / Do widzenia, do jutra
• 1960 - Innocent Sorcerers / Niewinni czarodzieje
• 1961 - Beware Yeti! / Ostrożnie, Yeti!
• 1961 - Fat and Skinny / Le Gros et le maigre
• 1961 - Samson / Samson
• 1962 - Knife in the water / Nóż w wodzie (voice acting)
• 1965 - Repulsion
• 1967 - The Fearless Vampire Killers - Alfred
• 1969 - The Magic Christian (also known as the Miracle Worker ) / The Magic Christian - a drunkard
• 1970 - Ciao, Federico! / Ciao Federico! (a documentary film by Gideon Bachmann ( German: Gideon Bachmann ) about the filming of Satyricon )
• 1972 - What? / What? - Mosquito
• 1974 - Blood for Dracula
• 1974 - Chinatown / Chinatown
• 1976 - Resident / Le Locataire
• 1982 - Leapfrog / Chassé-croisé
• 1989 - Waiting for Godot / En attendant Godot (TV)
• 1992 - Back to the USSR / Back in the USSR - Russian mafioso Kurilov
• 1994 - Pure Formality / Una Pura Formalita
• 1994 - The Cunning of Glory / Grosse fatigue
• 2000 - Tribute to Alfred Lepeti / Hommage à Alfred
• 2002 - Revenge / Zemsta
• 2007 - Rush Hour 3 / Commissioner Revie
• 2008 - Quiet Chaos / Caos calmo

Rewards

• The film " Disgust " - " Silver Bear " of the Berlin Film Festival .
• The film " Dead End " - " Golden Bear " of the Berlin Film Festival .
• The film "The Pianist " - " Golden Palm Branch " of the Cannes Film Festival ; Best Director, Academy Award .

Nominations

• The film “ Knife in the Water ” is the best foreign film, an Oscar .
• The film " Chinatown " - the best direction, Academy Award .
• The film " Tess " - best directing, Academy Award .

• "Double"

In 1997, Polanski abandoned the idea of ​​reworking “ Masters and Margarita ” for the screen and proceeded to the long-planned film adaptation of Dostoevsky ’s novel “ The Double ” ^[39] . However, on the set it turned out that the director added a scene in which the main character, performed by John Travolta , was supposed to appear naked ^[40] . Travolta flatly refused to continue filming and without explanation with the director left Paris, leaving 250 people in disbelief on the set ^[41] . Polanski subsequently commented on this episode: “So many people have put enormous effort into this project, and then all of a sudden everything falls apart. Pierre Guffroy, who has been working with me for a long time as a production designer, cried when I had to dismantle the scenery ... How can Travolta, who receives a $ 20 million salary for the film, behave in such a stupid way? ” ^[42] Travolta also condemned the actions other directors, notably David Lynch ^[43] .

• "Pompeii"

In 2007, the filming of the film based on the novel by Robert Harris - "Pompeii" was widely announced. The main roles were to play Orlando Bloom and Scarlett Johansson ^[44] . However, work on the picture was postponed indefinitely, despite the fact that distributors from 35 countries have already bought the rights to the film ^{[45] [46]} . In 2014, the film still came out with another director and actors.

• “Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired” / Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (USA, Great Britain; director Marina Zenovich / 2008).
• “Roman Polanski: Cinema Memoirs” / Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir (Great Britain, Italy, Germany; director Laurent Bouzereau; 2011).
• “Roman Polanski: The Third Extra” / Roman Polanski: Odd Man Out (USA; director Marina Zenovich / 2012).

• Полански, Роман — статья в Лентапедии . 2012 год.
• Обзор творчества (неопр.) . Дата обращения 22 августа 2008. Архивировано 28 ноября 2012 года. (Russian)