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Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008)
Directed by Marina Zenovich
Produced by Millwood Pictures for HBO
www.hbo.com
100 minutes
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
European film director Roman Polanski easily found fame and fortune in America, but he also was visited by tragedy and scandal, first, by the murder of his wife, and then, by his arrest, years later, when an intimate photo-shoot led to his illicit sexual encounter with a 13-year-old model . Polanski faced multiple charges, ranging from possession and use of drugs, to sodomy, in that 1977 arrest, and Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, directed by Marina Zenovich, tells the story of the scandal and tainted trial that would follow and would eventually force Polanski into exile.
The documentary begins by focusing on the legal difficulties Polanski had in California, after the brutal murder of his pregnant wife, Sharon Tate, by members of the Charles Manson cult, while Polanski was working abroad. But mainly at issue in the film is Polanski's ill-fated encounter with the young model, Samantha Gailey Geimer, and the events that occurred during the photo-shoot at the home of Polanski's long-time friend, Jack Nicholson. Ultimately, Polanski was accused of having raped Geimer, but he pleaded not guilty, admitting only to consensual sex. The trial became a cause celebre, and to many, a travesty of justice, due to the influence of a publicityseeking judge, Laurence J. Rittenband, who the film exposes as presiding as ringmaster over the media circus that was to follow.
As the documentary continues, so does the trial's drama. Polanski's Attorney for the Defense, Douglas Dalton, was considered a "master of negotiations," but this sensationalistic trial, involving a major celebrity who had made movies about perversion, corruption, and devil-worship, would put his talents to the test. The prosecuting attorney was Roger Gunsen, a straight-talking, 37-year-old Mormon. Before the trial was over, both attorneys would be...