Roman Polanski, or pardon me but your poll is in my neck.

I'll just assume Chinatown takes this with about 90 percent of the vote and focus on what lands place and show.

It's been so long since I've seen Chinatown...I'd have to watch it again before I could vote for it. I've only seen six on that list, and of those, I'd vote for Knife in the Water.

I remember really enjoying Frantic. Seems like Harrison Ford's best movies (Frantic, Working Girl, Mosquito Coast) are the ones that get swept under the rug of popular memory.

For me it's either Repulsion or The Tenant, I love the surreal/psychological tension of those movies.

that's the same two i came down to. voted for the tenant.

Frantic has one of the best premises ever for a thriller (Ford's wife walks out of their hotel room in France and just vanishes, and he isn't really able to convince the authorities that something has happened to her), but unfortunately it gets more formulaic towards the end.

Rosemary's Baby. I saw it in June again and, again, I thought it was the funniest, scariest horror film ever. Alarmingly well-cast too.

^ Rosemary's Baby is the shit.

Still, my vote goes to Chinatown.

I'm torn between the apartment trilogy. It might end up I compromise vote on Bitter Moon.

I saw that in the theatre; I was so relieved when most of the audience treated it as a comedy.

How could it not be a comedy?

Not too familiar with Polanski's work, but Rosemary's Baby is probably my second or third fav movie.

how many of you have seen Pirates?

That's one I've skipped up until now.

the scores of his movies are so great in and of themselves. i mean ...the opening notes to RB that i think were covered by Fantomas - wow. also chinatown's is of course so well-known now that we cant imagine a noir world without it

Tenant.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

too many of these I still haven't seen, I'm going to vote for Repulsion

I think I voted for Repulsion. Not seen anything pre-Knife and everything post-Tenant has uh problems.

i like the johnny depp one.

Ninth Gate (I should really scroll up to figure out what I'm talking about before posting). Death and Maiden was very good as well. Obviously neither of these are up to Repulsion/Rosemary's Baby standards; in fact, I'd say that very-obvious-Polanski-rip-off film "Birth" is better than those.

Some of the post-Tenant stuff is okay (neither of the two you mention I liked much though) but it seriously pales compared to the stuff which preceded it.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Kind of surprised Chinatown is so loved.

rosemary's baby is one of my favorites of all-time

Kind of surprised Chinatown is so loved.

― Alex in SF, Friday, October 17, 2008 1:02 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

er what?

It's great, but I don't think its his best film by any stretch.

I voted for Knife in the Water, back in the day. Such a beautiful movie.

dvd advice: skip repulsion. the current dvd is pan & scan and looks like shit.

There isn't a Criterion version of Repulsion? That sucks.

Kind of surprised Chinatown is so loved.

It does diagnose what's most wrong with America; when it's set, when it was made, now.

Albacore Insurance Group

"It does diagnose what's most wrong with America; when it's set, when it was made, now."

I don't think it does that any better than oh let's say Who Framed Roger Rabbit though. Rosemary's Baby is just a better movie IMO. Repulsion too, but I can understand why people couldn't get into that as much.

I think RB is a solid #2, like everything that got votes cept Pirates and
Two Men and a Wardrobe (unseen). Preferred Tess to FVK but it's been awhile.

FVK is fluffy. It's kind of hard to imagine it being made by the same guy who did the Tenant.

well, his interest in changing up was a common trait that more current directors w/ talent should investigate. (Wes Anderson, how bout a spy thriller)

oh his Macbeth is one of the 5-6 best Shakespeare films, probably.

Never actually seen that. I should. Do you count Kurosawa as Shakespeare btw?

nah, not quite. Goes in the "variations" column with Forbidden Planet.

I want to hear your top 5-6 then.

I'm forgetful! Top of the head: Welles' Othello, Olivier's Richard III, Polanski, Almereyda's Hamlet, Chimes at Midnight, then maybe Dieterle's A Midsummer's Night Dream, the Soviet Hamlet from the '60s, and Branagh's Henry V.

Never seen Almereyda's Hamlet. Recall liking Branagh's quite a bit, plus it reminds you that the actual play is long long long (there is a Northrop Frye line about the play being so long cuz no one ever shuts the fuck in it.) Taymor's Titus is good for a very minor play. Can't argue with the first two at all though, Welles and Olivier are stone classics.

Richard III might be the funniest of the tragedies too.

ooh yeah Polanski's MacBeth is fantastic. vividly remember watching it in high school English

Welle's Othello also somewhere near the top, Morbz has a good list there

all the film versions of macbeth i've seen are good -- kurosawa's is my fav kurosawa, welles's is great and bizarre (like "caligari" filmed on a star trek set), and polanski's is just a brilliant realization of the play, probably the best polanski i've seen after repulsion and RB.

morb's list would be close to mine (though i haven't seen the soviet hamlet yet -- according to imdb it's called "gamlet"!!), with chimes easily taking top honors.

Welles' Macbeth >>>> Polanski's Macbeth >>>> Welles' Othello

Yeah -- Chimes at Midnight and the William Richert-Keanu Reeves bits in My Own Private Idaho are my favorite screen Shakespeares.

No Keanu Reeves bits are my favorite anything.

the William Richert-Keanu Reeves bits in My Own Private Idaho are my favorite screen Shakespeare.

you've said this before and I am nonetheless still alarmed at your toleration for this terribly misguided claptrap. I don't think Keanu even understands a single line he says in that movie.

haha x-post

His diffidence dovetails nicely with Hal/Scotty's. I didn't say it was a good performance.

The best thing I can say about those sequences is Keanu was even worse in Much Ado About Nothing.

I smell a poll!

Alex, Branagh is a lot hammier than Keanu in that movie.

wasn't there some well-known shakespeare critic who called keanu reeves's hamlet (no not kidding, had a brief run in london) the best hamlet ever?

haha, from wikipedia:

He made news by refusing to take part in Speed 2: Cruise Control and choosing to play the title role in a Manitoba Theatre Centre production of Hamlet in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Reeves got surprisingly good reviews for his interpretation of one of Shakespeare's most famous characters. Roger Lewis, the Sunday Times critic, wrote that "He quite embodied the innocence, the splendid fury, the animal grace of the leaps and bounds, the emotional violence, that form the Prince of Denmark...He is one of the top three Hamlets I have seen, for a simple reason: he * is* Hamlet."

(roger lewis, btw, is the guy who wrote that semi-recent anthony burgess biography where he repeatedly refers to burgess as a "complete fucking fool.")

Pretty sure that first episode of Slings & Arrows has a Keanu in Canada bit in it.

hmm I've never thought of Hamlet as an idiot manchild before but I guess its possible

i've often thought of Hamlet as an idiot manchild.

A fairly eloquent idiot manchild though, which would seem to exempt Keanu.

fuck u haterz :)

hm, thanks guys, i'm getting some Shakespeare dvds for my roommate for his bday but had no idea what to get

i considered going to Winnipeg for that Hamlet

http://criterion_production.s3.amazonaws.com/release_images/2266/483_box_348x490.jpg

Coming (standard & Blu) in July.

sweet!

I woulda voted macbeth in this

i still can't believe how hard Frantic suckerd, AFTER those awesome first 30-40 minutes.

suckerd :)

never seen chinatown

waht?

the tenant is his best, ftw.

or okay, not his best, but his most intersting

oh i would have voted for tess

Repulsion really isn't very good imo, worth it for Deneuve but the conceit never really convinced me and the ending was quite weak.

I am led to believe that Polanski subsequently got a lot better but for some reason Repulsion's finished second in this poll :-/

Woah woah woah, why don't you think Repulsion is good? It's far and away my favourite.

I watched it with a friend (who's BIG into film) under the impression that it was a great lost classic. Deneuve's performance (and general air of glacial smouldering cool) was infinitely alluring but the remainder of the movie felt like a let-down, especially towards the end. It just didn't force home a promising conceit with any sort of elegance. We both agreed that it wasn't a particularly affecting experience, and that even one's focus upon and belief in Deneuve begins to waver as events unfold. It remains the only Polanski I've seen, but it wasn't a particularly enjoyable (or memorable) experience for me. I'm not dissuaded from seeing others.

I fell asleep when I tried to watch Repulsion. All his other movies are among my favourites. Don't understand this.

Hm, I'm not sure what exactly 'force home a promising conceit with any sort of elegance' means. How can you 'force home' something with elegance? I'm not sure it does lack elegance at any rate - for me, the film-making is exquisite; every camera angle is perfectly poised, and the balance between quietness and interior violence very 'elegant', if that's the descriptor we're using.

I can understand that perhaps Deneuve's psychosis seems a little arbitrary, if that is the conceit that you mean, but then isn't everything arbitrary? I thought that the manner of expression of that psychosis was very convincing.

Well, the film seemed to use cheap shock tactics to "escalate" her psychosis, such as the rabbit carcass, the deadly strike with the poker, the final scene with the hands etc...none of them really seemed to fit in with the prior mood of the film, and their shock value was actually diminished by this IMO. A little hamfisted. My main qualm with the film was that it made me feel profoundly indifferent to the denouement. The first 2/3 had actually been quite tense, quite nicely observed, if not the most riveting hour of film I've seen. I'll need to see it again, mind, this was over a year ago.

Repulsion was made in '65, dude. shit was shocking as fuck back then.

admittedly, i once wrote a 15-page term paper on disembodiment and psychosis in Repulsion, The Tenant and Rosemary's Baby, so my bias is more towards the shock of those films.

i mean, i can't even WATCH The Tenant any longer. it scares the hell out of me.

Don't think that the rabbit carcass was a shock tactic - along with the sprouting potato it is a measure of time and yes, an indicator of the rise of psychosis, but a fairly quiet one. I think if it was on its own then *maybe* I could agree, but it goes with the general disintegration of everything over time.

Also, the shift in mood is necessary - you go through life attempting to maintain your mind until, under pressure, it snaps. What is going to happen next, everything stays the same?

Hmm. Well, at any rate, the hands were B-movie bad. :P

Like I say, I'll need to see it again, but I wasn't overtly moved by it. Needed to be subtler, more incremental, and more devastating. In the end it was just a series of mournful vignettes concerning a lady at increasing odds with a slightly unnatural physicalisation of sexuality. It's almost like sex in that movie is a tangible presence, a character, rather than a verb, a natural engagement of humans. There was no sign of internal struggle, only complete desolation and opposition. I guess that's the point of the movie, but it didn't make for a well-rounded hypothesis on human nature.

I tend to look at the results of this poll as such:

Apartment Trilogy: 19 votes
Chinatown: 13

Anyway, Deneuve was in a film just 2 years later that was 3x as shocking, 5x as good, 10x as devastatingly psychological, and in colour. So ner.

(and a film moreover with a FAR more interesting take on sexuality, especially the contradictory and spry sexuality of its still-glacial star)

Belle du Jour?

Much as I love that film, your choices and descriptions are a real give away that you've never been a female.

I don't even think BDJ holds a candle to Bunuel's even-later masterpieces, but that's the comparison with Repulsion that I probably won't be able to shake, even though they ARE fairly different sorts of film.

Also, for "contradictory" and "spry" read "intoxicating" and "self-immolatory" or something, I dunno, it's all a big fantasy-reality mindfuck inflicted both on her and on the audience (Deneuve, a whore? That thug, her ideal of masculinity?) and its explorations of what fantasy can do (and what it privileges) are preferable imo to Polanki's exploration of what pure repulsion does.

Organizers of the Zurich Film Festival say director Roman Polanski has been taken into custody on a 31-year-old U.S. arrest warrant.

The organizers say Polanski was detained by police Saturday. Zurich police couldn't immediately confirm the information.

The festival said in a statement Sunday that Polanski traveled to Switzerland to receive an award for his lifetime of work as a director. They said he was arrested in relation to a 1978 U.S. request, without specifying.

Polanski fled the United States in 1978, a year after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

Hadn't heard about him for a couple of years and now twice in two days: first, Susan Atkins dies, the next day, he's in the news again - ???

lol pwned

I hear that Osama bin Laden is going to win the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival next year.

SUCKA

Doubt he was the sucka, Alex

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-z-shore/polanskis-arrest-shame-on_b_301134.html

o_O

Well, I kind of agree with that article (apart from the call for banning Swiss stuff, that is just silly). But I mean hey, it's been THREE DECADES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2XTuc6i1Uo

the age of consent was 14?? the fuck?

i dunno, blaming the victim and whitewashing the fact that she was 13 ("almost 14")is some bullshit.

Of course, the "but the parents trusted her to be with him" is bogus. But it still seems utterly ridiculous to me for America to still claim his head on a platter.

There are surely more important issues in the world, and more villainous rogues at large that we should be attending to.

^^^^ always the kicker in a poorly argued defense

otm

dude served his time. don't know why they even care. it should all get tossed out due to the horribly corrupt judge during the original trial imo.

When did he serve his time?

look, at this point, i'm not sure dude should even serve any jail time or whatever. but don't try to defend him because he's "charming" or some bullshit.

he made some deal with the judge. the judge told him to serve a term at the psych ward, and if he pleaded guilty, they'd basically count that as his time served. he found out the judge was going to fuck him over so he fled.

Oh, right. And I DID watch that documentary too.

dude made chinatown guys come on

I'm not crazy about his peccadilloes, but on the legal facts this is BS.

http://board.mdc2.org/albums/screens/Screenshot-The%20Associated%20Press:%20Swiss%20arrest%20Polanski%20on%20US%20request%20in%20sex%20case%20-%20Chromium.png

wtf

http://board.mdc2.org/albums/screens/Screenshot-The%20Associated%20Press:%20Swiss%20arrest%20Polanski%20on%20US%20request%20in%20sex%20case%20-%20Chromium.png

lol AP

:-)))

Fuck this guy. I am trading him off of my team in Madden as soon as I get home.

He is OFF the team.

SHAME ON THE SWISS

"But it still seems utterly ridiculous to me for America to still claim his head on a platter."

He drugged and raped a girl. Apparently this wasn't the only incident. It's in a way ridiculous to still go after him but then a crime is a crime. If it were my daughter I'd probably have lynched him 29 years ago.

He drugged and raped a girl. Apparently this wasn't the only incident

BUT HE MADE CHINATWON

yeah I mean I like his movies too but what he did was against the law and he should serve some legal penalty for it.

it's pretty weird that Angelica Houston was there and was like, 'well she wasn't really like a 13 year old, she was like a 25 year old' ok cmon lady.

But I mean hey, it's been THREE DECADES.

the only reason it's been three decades is because he ran away. i think the main thing it illustrates is that becoming a fugitive is generally a bad idea. legal systems don't forgive and forget. what sentence was he looking at then? i think he'd have been better off to have served it.

i can't understand what joan z. shore is whining about. not like the swiss gov't had any choice anyway.

more like joan z. sure is stupid

some of y'all are cap'n save a pedo

New cap'n save a pedo legislation.

it's not his fault a 13-yr-old seduced him

Anjelica Houston is a nonce.

i love how that huffington poster's indictment of the swiss is: laundering nazi gold, denying women the vote, serving a warrant on a statutory rapist.

what sentence was he looking at then? i think he'd have been better off to have served it

According to BBC website:

"He was initially indicted on six counts and faced up to life in prison."

Not entirely surprised he skipped the country on that basis, but as you say the justice system has a long memory.

dude should have resurrected his drag look from The Tenant to escape detection

http://www.pop-pervert.com/files/men_as_women-06.jpg

if the americans wanted to arrest him,they could have done it many times on the past decades.
Polanski didnt hide while being all over the world.
thats why the swiss are weird about it.
my guess is that this arrest story will end as fast as it begun,cause right or wrong - no one seems to give a fuck about that case.

i don't honestly care either way but i thought the us had tried a couple times and failed because he didn't show up where he was supposed to?

"but on the legal facts this is BS"

Whuh?

"what sentence was he looking at then?"

It wasn't entirely clear. Originally the plea bargain called for it to be something ridiculous like probation plus some community service and like six months in a minimum security prison. The judge decided at the last moment that this was crazy for the (anal) rape of a 13 year old and began to try to figure out a harsher (but presumably not anywhere close to life) sentence and then Polanski decided he'd had enough and ran away.

and france has a different extradition agreement from switzerland so they had to know he was leaving france ahead of time. it's not so easy for the us to set up the arrest + extradition that they could have just done it. i don't know. xpost

"if the americans wanted to arrest him,they could have done it many times on the past decades."

They could have? I wasn't aware he'd entered into any country that had extradition treaties with the US.

I always thought Jack Nicholson deserved some measure of opprobrium for knowing Polanski would use his house for pedo fun. What can you say, Jack? It was the seventies.

it's not like catching bin laden...
you gotta give the u.s. more credit than just waiting passively for him to show up where he suppose to other than actively go and take him by force.
plus,theres a thing called the interpol, which was never used.
conclusion: the u.s. don't care.

i haven't researched it but i don't believe they could have showed up and just taken him. it's also a state case. the DA had to ask the us justice dept to make the warrant, which was sent to switzerland to use their extradition treaty. so there's 3 separate governments involved.

"The girl was just a few weeks short of her 14th birthday, which was the age of consent in California."

Pretty sure it was 18 even then.

but on the legal facts this is BS.

― A Patch on Blazing Saddles (Dr Morbius)

not a juris doctor iirc

"he'd entered into any country that had extradition treaties with the US"

he was, for example, in Israel.

I don't buy any of the arguments that Polanski doesn't deserve anything he gets at this point. This was a pretty despicable crime (he DRUGGED and then ANALLY RAPED a minor fer crying out loud) and the fact that he's a famous great director and seventy-six years old and once in Israel doesn't mean he should walk away scot free. So whatever happened that resulted in this, good on the Swiss.

^otm

anyone else arguing otherwise is honestly insane

i didnt say he doesn't or does deserve this,
i'm just saying that objectively no one except from the swiss seems to care.
at least uo to this point.

huh? the swiss didn't arrest him all by themselves!

hey man he had a rough half decade

xpost

"objectively"

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-mew-polanski28-2009sep28,0,6506344.story?track=rss

The Los Angeles County district attorney's office learned last week that Polanski had plans to travel to Zurich this weekend, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office.

Prosecutors sent a provisional arrest warrant to the U.S. Justice Department, which presented it to Swiss authorities. On at least two previous occasions, the district attorney's office has received reports that Polanski had travel arrangements to countries with extradition treaties with the U.S. and prepared paperwork for his arrest, Gibbons said.

"But in the end, he apparently found out about it and didn't go," she said.

oy vey, expect to see a lot of this saving o' the p'do
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/09/the_outrageous_arrest_of_roman.html

haha [here's a whole bunch of facts that are irrelevant] [therefore, i conclude switzerland is ridiculous]

just to be clear, my comment upthread was meant to be facetious.

arguments for arresting polanski: he committed a serious crime by drugging and raping a pubescent girl

arguments against arresting polanski: it happened 30 years ago!!!!! and, you know, he was in the holocaust!!! and besides, the swiss!!! you know!!! nazi bankers!!!

and chinatown!!!!!!!!!!!

he has already paid so much in lawyer's fees. just let him go.

He did commit a crime, but he has paid for the crime in many, many ways: In notoriety, in lawyers' fees, in professional stigma. He could not return to Los Angeles to receive his recent Oscar. He cannot visit Hollywood to direct or cast a film.

i mean, is this actually something that was written by a human or what?

Part of the transcript.

he can't even visit hollywood! isn't that enough?

also the victim doesn't want him to go back on trial and would rather just let it die

it was the 70s,anal sex with almost 14 year olds was all the rage. lighten up!

I am certain there are many who will harrumph that, following this arrest, justice was done at last. But Polanski is 76. To put him on trial or keep him in jail does not serve society in general or his victim in particular. Nor does it prove the doggedness and earnestness of the American legal system. If he weren't famous, I bet no one would bother with him at all.

She's certain, you see, so stop harrumphing!

yeah i remember when adrien brody declined to be in "the pianist" because of the stigma surrounding roman polanski and i thought to myself "i wish there wasn't such a stigma surrounding roman polanski. he'll never even get to win an academy award."

don't you harrumph just becuz polanski was herrumping

he had to find some no-name c-lister like harrison ford to accept the oscar for him, isnt that basically the same thing as a jail sentence?

arguments against arresting polanski: it happened 30 years ago!!!!! and, you know, he was in the holocaust!!! and besides, the swiss!!! you know!!! nazi bankers!!!

also, he's european. that's how they roll over there. in france if you sleep with a 14 yr old girl the president has some cheese and wine with you.

Hey Ann Applebaum do you have a young daughter? How about I rape her??? Please, I just love raping little girls.

http://karlandkinggeorge.com/images/Hackman__The_Birdcage.png

"I've seen this kind of thing before. Aristotle Onassis was just like this. And all the French. Especially Mitterand. And the English. Not Margaret Thatcher, of course..."

One more thing...this 13 year old girl was no virgin. She had had sex at least twice before by her own testimony. What kind of girl goes to a house with a grown man, drinks champagne, gets in a hot tub...etc. Again...not condoning what he did but he's paid his debt in my book.

Posted by: babyfacemagee | September 27, 2009 4:48 PM | Report abuse

Honestly, his movies should all be destroyed.

Report abuse

haha

LIberals have no problem with diddling children...the normal world does......

Liberalism on display is losing support globally ... 2010 will mark the end of a foolish experiment with wishful thinking.

Liberalism is a failed concept..reality bites it in the but daily...see ObamaCare, Obama's foreign policy, Obama's economic policy ...and on and on.

Posted by: georgedixon | September 27, 2009 5:55 PM | Report abuse

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-farr/leniency-for-polanski_b_301269.html

But the story of what Polanski suffered even before the unspeakable trauma of having his pregnant wife Sharon Tate butchered in the spooky twilight of the turbulent Sixties makes me believe that overall, he's as much victim as predator himself.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2009/09/roman-polanski-still-being-stalked-by-la-county-prosecutors.html

I watched Repulsion a few weeks ago at a friend's house. He told me we had watched it like 7 or 8 years earlier, to my denial. Only after by its end did I realized I had seen it. How the hell does someone forget seeing Repulsion?

I love Polanski's films

and quite honestly don't understand what the fuck yall are on about.

He drugged and fucked a 13 year old girl and now he's being caught up on it thanks to Swiss/US cooperation.

no i know that. i mean cmon what's the fuss on either side.

dude are you fucking serious

Yeah I know, sorry. I agree fwiw, esp as the victim doesn't care anymore

Why're you so worked up about it, Jordan?

because i think it's ridiculous that people are attempting to argue against a child rapist being arrested

Yeah I know, sorry. I agree fwiw, esp as the victim doesn't care anymore

― Niles Caulder, Sunday, September 27, 2009 9:40 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

yeah this is a great point - just make sure you do something so terrible to a person that they would rather it not be brought up again for fear of embarrassment

Eh, I wasn't a child at 13 going on 14. And I'd already been felt up by my creepy greatuncle a few times. Nothing happened to him, I don't care.

It's brought up in every article about Polanski ever!

Oh btw I think he should've done some fair punishment at the time etc, just don't see what good this does now for anyone.

i don't know, j0rdan, i understand getting worked up about shit like this, but why don't you join the fucking task force in your town that runs all the registered sex offenders out of town? i'm not saying that it isn't a serious crime, but polanski is just not the best person to 'make an example of' at this point...

to me, it's like extraditing dudes who were 'present' as lowly first officers at bergen/belsen. i mean what the fuck, most of these guys can't get hard-ons and walk with canes, focus on the motherfuckers who are white supremacists/ZOGers/SPLC-targets RIGHT NOW.

(that is, perpetrators of terrible crimes should be SWIFTLY punished).

i'm pretty sure roman polanski didn't watch a 13 year old get raped but i'll go check wikipedia again just to make sure

Niles Caulder, the David Brooks/Joe Klein of ILX.

forget it jake its chinatown

(that is, perpetrators of terrible crimes should be SWIFTLY punished).

So if you can evade punishment long enough, no harm no foul?

i do think there's a difference between condemning what he did, which like everyone does, and arguing that the justice system is fulfilling its mission by arresting him 30 years later.

i mean this is the law so whatever i guess. but i'm not really sure if it is "justice"

it's just fucked up because he's been in plain sight for so long

I mean, "Oh btw I think he should've done some fair punishment at the time etc, just don't see what good this does now for anyone" is some Bush-era DOJ style bullshit. What's the point of laws if perpetrators aren't caught, no matter how long it takes?

and there are all these guys back in the la justice dept waiting for him to get on a plane

when the victim is on the public record as wanting the case to go away

(that is, perpetrators of terrible crimes should be SWIFTLY punished).

he would've been SWIFTLY punished had he not fled the country - it's not like the LAPD diddled around for 35 years before going "oh hey we finished this case time for trial!"

a lot of sexual assault victims want the cases to go away for many reasons - this doesn't stop the police & it shouldn't

Also, you never want to encourage people to flee, or reward them for doing so.

It sucks that he's been in plain sight, but international extradition is imperfect. Dude played the system well enough to evade capture.

He planned his life around not being in a jurisdiction that would send him back to face time. It's not like he was just floating around LA for 30 years and then the DA decided to make an issue - he fled! Internationally!

yeah i mean youre right jordan.

was this the first opportunity they had to arrest him since he fled i wonder

exactly - he clearly knew that he was in the wrong, he understood the severity & he made it a painstaking point of his life - to the small detriment of his ego & career - to make sure that he never actually served time for a crime that he knew was very, very fucked up

No. He owns a house in Switzerland, so he goes there all the time. It was the first time the US asked for him.

weird

from what i read it was the first time that he didn't get wind of plans to arrest him & so he didn't ditch his plan to go to switzerland

It was the first time the US asked for him.

Wiki says: "The United States had been seeking his arrest and extradition worldwide since 2005. While there had been a U.S. arrest warrant for him since 1978, an international arrest warrant was issued in 2005. The United States must make a formal extradition request within 40 days to have Polanski extradited and stand trial."

Asked Switzerland specifically I meant.

Alfred that sounds a bit like law for law's sake, doesn't it? I'm not actually all that opposed to what's happening to Polanski, I just don't see the point. In effective terms, not moral ones. Otoh (just to fudge some more) I read his autobiography a while and dude does love his teenage girls, so this may well be preventing future crimes of this type, or punishing several that've gone unseen

Look, by any standard he's had a wretched life: Holocaust, his wife and unborn child getting disembowled. I'm sure he loves Emmanuelle Beart and their lovely girls.

Alfred that sounds a bit like law for law's sake, doesn't it?

This is redundant, no? There's an open investigation; prosecutors want to close it.

Eh maybe. He married Emmanuelle Beart? Hope he gets the chair

i don't think it's really doing anything for society (or whatever you want to call it) to punish him now except for trying to show you can't get away with this. but all these dumb articles say is he's already had a hard life and it's been such a long time and this is useless. but that could be true of so many people and no one writes articles ranting about how prosecutors are "harassing" them. he's not special. even if he did make chinatown.

E Beart ref is puzzling me now, but yes she and her's are likeable I spose

I am certain there are many who will harrumph that, following this arrest, justice was done at last. But Polanski is 76. To put him on trial or keep him in jail does not serve society in general or his victim in particular. Nor does it prove the doggedness and earnestness of the American legal system. If he weren't famous, I bet no one would bother with him at all.

^^^^ this.

it's also pretty shitty that the victim and her family will have to go through reliving the details all over again.

yeah well a non-famous person wouldn't have gotten tipped off throughout the years about apprehension efforts and thus been able to avoid capture for 20+ years

If he weren't famous, I bet no one would bother with him at all.

Um, if he weren't famous, there is no way he would have gotten away with it for so long.

oh xpost

btw it's a real big fallacy imo that a non-famous person would've been forgotten about - i think shows on court tv & shit make it pretty apparent that cops & prosecutors forever hold grudges over unsolved cases & fugitives - the show FUGITIVE TASK FORCE on a&e makes it kind of apparent that the swat team & us govt will hunt your ass down over a minor parole violation let alone jumping ship like polanski did

and on top of that all, famous people & people with money have such an advantage in the legal system (and socially when it comes to stigma over crime) than non-famous people

What a waste of fucking time, says someone currently in a court case cos his parole officer fucked up his address and went to the wrong place

Hey really, isn't "he assaulted a really young girl" the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Polanski? Much as I like a few of his films it always has been for me

As reagrds stigma. It took his autobiog for me to know about the Holocaust thing.

funny how all those cons on the megan's law website aren't rich & famous people

the argument about "what good does it do prosecuting him now" seems sort of silly to me. he's not that much older than bernie madoff. old people can go to prison. (although i bet polanski won't actually do any time out of all this.) i know, the difference is that polanski's crime was years ago, but it's entirely his fault that there's been such a long gap.

Bernie Madoff was actively committing his crimes. That's kinda stupid.

bullshit, that investment cash threw itself at him

uh-uh, madoff essentially turned himself in. his crimes were done. it's not like anyone was going to invest any money with him again. what's the point in prosecuting an old man?

madoff has suffered enough, he can't even visit wall street anymore

Hahahaha I agree actually, don't see one xp

forget it jake it's wall street

he didn't even get to attend an ivy league school, the pain and suffering far outweighs his crime

j0rdan otm in this thread.

No doubt Polanski could have settled this one way or another earlier had he not, you know, plead guilty (to a much lesser charge than what was originally filed) and fled the country. Because once he did that, how could any prosecutor possibly shrug and say, "eh, what's in the past is in the past?" That's some red flag shit, and what kind of precedent would it set to let such a public figure off the hook for no good reason?

What would he be coming back to the U.S. for, exactly? His sentencing? Jail time? I can't imagine this just simply picks up where he left it off. Taking into account all the stuff surrounding this case for the past three decades, the best scenario would probably be some sort of retrial, and he could take his chances with a jury rather than that (late) crazy judge. Maybe Gov. Arnold would commute his sentence. Either way, I can imagine Polanski coming out ahead in the appeals process, one way or another. But win or not in the end, an asterisk will always be affixed to his name.

woah easy. he didn't do no steroids, buddy.

could he have still made chinatown if he HADNT sodomized a 13 yr old? im not so sure

j0rdan otm in this thread.

― deej, Sunday, September 27, 2009 9:03 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

This whole case, this whole argument is so not at all as interesting as The Tenant. Great movie. Go see it.

Frédéric Mitterrand, the French culture minister, said the arrest was proof of the "frightening" side of America.

"In the same way as there is a generous America which we love, there is also a certain kind of America which is frightening, and it is this America which has now shown us its face," he said.

there is also a certain kind of America which is frightening

yeah, it's called north america

In a few months Interpol will bust Mitterand while feeding Camembert to a fifteen-year-old boy in a stable.

The age of consent for being fed cheese by an older man is fourteen in France, IIRC.

Memories.

There is no way Polanski will be extradited. The French don't want it, and they will twist whichever arms necessary.

The age of consent for being fed cheese by an older man is fourteen in France, IIRC

not true, although there is no age limit if you do it at home with your family during meals.

Sure was nice of Anne Applebaum, in that atrocious Washington Post op-ed, to mention the fact that her husband is, you know, the Foreign Minister of Poland. Who might have an interest in the case.

But it was a balanced piece - she even acknowledged that "He can be blamed, it is true, for his original, panicky decision to flee"

Yes, but please note the use of the passive voice.

lol

Shortly after the United States Presidential Election, 2008, opposition politician Ryszard Czarnecki charged Sikorski had repeated a joke suggesting President-elect Barack Obama's grandfather was a cannibal (who had eaten a Polish missionary. A spokesman for the Polish foreign office denied it, explaining Sikorski "was only giving an example of the unpalatable and racist 'jokes' that surround President Elect Obama".[7] His wife Anne Applebaum had declared her intent to vote for Obama.[8]

that joan z. shore essay is a humour piece right? a parody?

i am wondering that about all these articles tbh. people seem to have lost their minds.

that joan z. shore essay is a humour piece right? a parody?

― fountain bleaut (s1ocki), Monday, September 28, 2009 4:54 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

srsly.

"Swiss banking secrecy, after all, has not been a ploy to launder dirty money; it has been a time-honored tradition to respect the privacy of their customers."

not sure what the technical term is for this. "fake ratiocination"?

whatever, j0rdan, i think your argument is tunnel-visioned. on one side, we have frothing BY THE LAW loonies like you who make it into a vast bourgeois conspiracy, and on the other hand we have people crying about the holocaust and how wonderful his films are.

i am arguing that both sides are fucking idiots and are making too much of a fuss out of it. extradite him, make him invest LOTS of his money in efforts to prevent child abuse/protect abused children, and be done with it. putting dude in jail does nothing.

let's invent a new penal tariff... for some reason!

putting anyone in jail for anything "does nothing"! i think that's the point, the nothing of it.

I'm inclined to cut Polanski a tiny bit of slack, having seen the documentary on the case. He committed a crime. He pleaded guilty, as part of a plea bargain which had him serving 90 days in prison. He was freed, then apparently the judge changed his mind about the plea bargain and ordered him back to jail. It does seem there's a good chance the case might be dismissed on appeal, on account of judicial misconduct. Only he can't appeal without going back to the U.S., which in turn puts him in danger of a lengthy sentence, precisely on account of a plea that he submitted as part of a plea bargain that was never honoured. Whatever slant you want to put on this, you can hardly say it's simply justice taking its course.

is jordan or whoever really arguing that he should be in jail? mostly i think the non-joan z. shores are just arguing that he should be extradited like any other child rapist and then lets let, i dunno, a judge, or something, decide what to do

it's almost enough to put you off sex with 13 year olds, it really is.

yup um xp

I don't know about J0rdan – I'm simply arguing that I'm glad he was arrested. What happens next is for the courts to decide.

i think your argument is tunnel-visioned. on one side, we have frothing BY THE LAW loonies like you who make it into a vast bourgeois conspiracy

wtf does this even mean

what are the benefits of bumming a younger girl?

presumably he'd have a new charge to deal with for running, right? i understand that also is a no-no

presumably he'd have a new charge to deal with for running, right? i understand that also is a no-no

― goole, Monday, September 28, 2009 5:10 PM (17 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

he directed 'rosemary's baby' though.

wtf do you even mean, alfred. it's pretty simple to follow: j0rdan sounds like a right-wing wingnut, but instead he's frothin at the mouth about Polanski and nt Obamacare.

hahahahaha

u are somethin else dude

keep on keepin on

Because it's right wing to hope that the law catches a fugitive.

table is the table, the more i read your post the less sense it makes

make him invest LOTS of his money in efforts to prevent child abuse/protect abused children

what's the logic here? since he has the money, presumably, to make a better show of Doing Something for further prevention, he ought to be let off? what about a poor child rapist who bailed, does prison still Do Nothing for him, or for us? who, or what authority, bears the responsibility for footing the bill for Doing Something about abused kids, rich abusers who get caught? i don't get how draining his bank account in favor of (presumably) a child's charity, a drop in the bucket, is any more or less symbolic than throwing RP in the clink. what you are suggesting is tabloid justice as much as anything the STRING HIM UP crowd is calling for...

it is if he's an artist, i think. xp

sure, goole, but it also doesn't require the already-strained prison-industrial complex from catering to the needs of another dumbfuck child rapist.

you are a treat.

the system is bankrupt and corrupt, its punishments arbitrary, might as well let him go, it would be political capitulation not to...

i guess i really don't have a comeback for that.

i think it's a vast conspiracy by the prison-industrial complex to cater to yet another rapist. they are insatiable

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat

i thought i had a bead on this conversation but

i am the samantha geimer to tables roman polanski right now

i'm not #1 fan of the prison-industrial complex or the long arm of the law either (they are as much a part of the "vast bourgeois conspiracy" as the idea that this one rich famous guy should be left alone because he managed to stay away for 30 years) but can't find a compelling reason why this particular one should be allowed to escape it. he's probably not going to be locked up anyway.

So is it true said girl from back then doesn't want to see the case being re-opened? Heard this on the radio today.

Yes it's true.

Some people are against capital punishment because they say that it turns the state into a murderer. I'm against imprisonment because it turns the state into a gay dungeon-master.

true. in alll honesty, i've just been trying to point out the lunacy by acting like a lunatic.

in the end, here's what i think: he's a fucking celebrity director, let the law take care of it, worry about yourself. what'll happen will.

(and i bid adieu).

So is it true said girl from back then doesn't want to see the case being re-opened? Heard this on the radio today.

― young depardieu looming out of void in hour of profound triumph (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, September 28, 2009 5:33 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

also did you know he directed 'cul de sac'. not one of his best, but just saying.

let the law take care of it

so you're in favor of extradition now?

table you sure are spending a lot of words to communicate that you have nothing to say about this matter

i don't think the guy should go to jail necessarily. i just think the case should be resolved, which clearly it isn't because he illegally fled the country and pointedly avoided capture for over 20 years. i'm arguing against the idea that the length of time means that it's not worth pursuing or that any iota of pity should be felt for this man because of the holocaust or because he was forced to live in france (the horror!) and switzerland (*clutches heart*) or anything like that.

she was fucking a celebrity director, let the law take care of it, worry about yourself. what'll happen will.

i mean this just seems totally cut & dry to me. he's a fugitive, extremely little resources were used to capture him & now he has to face a judge to tie-up a case that he ran away from for whatever reason. i honestly don't see how anyone could argue otherwise.

i think the whole of ilx should be deleted and whenever you visit "ilxor.com" it's just a permanent yellow card that says "worry about yourself"

maybe there could be a rolling wdyll thread where you can post your own photo but can't see that of anyone else

How right-wing of you, J0rdan.

Opposition to anal rape is a hallmark of conservatism.

All rape is anal rape is a hallmark of conservatism.

How the hell does someone forget seeing Repulsion?

― EDB, Monday, 28 September 2009 03:01 (15 hours ago) Bookmark

it's kinda not very good and i say that as a man who cannot look at catherine deneuve without combusting internally a little

also, fantastic thread, i lolled

The French culture and communications minister, Frederic Mitterrand, said he "learned with astonishment" of Polanski's arrest. He expressed solidarity with Polanski's family and said "he wants to remind everyone that Roman Polanski benefits from great general esteem" and has "exceptional artistic creation and human qualities."

Investigators in the United States say Polanski drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl in the 1970s. Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 to having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, but he fled the United States before he could be sentenced and settled in France.

U.S. authorities have had a warrant for his arrest since 1978. Police in Switzerland arrested Polanski on that warrant Saturday after the 76-year-old tried to enter Switzerland to attend the Zurich Film Festival, which is holding a tribute to Polanski this year.

Filmmakers have reacted with outrage at the arrest.

"As a Swiss filmmaker, I feel deeply ashamed," Christian Frei said.

"He's a brilliant guy, and he made a little mistake 32 years ago. What a shame for Switzerland," said photographer Otto Weisser, a friend of Polanski.

The Polish Filmmakers Association posted a letter on its Web site Monday from the European Film Academy secretariat that protested "the arbitrary treatment of one of the world's most outstanding film directors."

The letter, which was read aloud at the festival, was signed by directors Wim Wenders, Volker Schloendorff and Bertrand Tavernier; actress Victoria Abril; cinematographer Peter Suschitzky; and screenwriter and actor Jean-Claude Carriere.

Mitterrand said he has spoken with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and that Sarkozy "shares his hope for a rapid resolution to the situation which would allow Roman Polanski to rejoin his family as quickly as possible."

Mitterrand said he "greatly regrets that Mr. Polanski has had yet another difficulty added to an already turbulent existence."

tube-ulent morelike

What a shame for Switzerland

it's kinda not very good and i say that as a man who cannot look at catherine deneuve without combusting internally a little

― should probably be practising shorthand (country matters), Monday, September 28, 2009 1:29 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

seriously close to a SB here

i really don't want to imagine what "combusting internally" means in this context, though i think i just did.

he made a little mistake 32 years ago

^ another right-wing nut

whoops, slipped and fell into the bum of another drugged teen

roman polanski, or pardon me but your little mistake is in my ass

i really don't want to imagine what "combusting internally" means in this context, though i think i just did.

― omar little, Monday, 28 September 2009 18:37 (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

if *anyone* else had used this innocent if slightly grandiose metaphor for attraction, it would have passed without such comment

repulsion didn't really reach me. came across as a visually impressive but slight and conceptually unconvincing study of neurosis. the rotting rabbit carcass was effective. maybe if i see it again i'll appreciate its trip into unaccountable human darkness a little more enthusiastically

i think it is a pretty perfect movie. you weren't moved by the first and last shots?

it's been a while! i will have to see it again, as i say. first shot is a london cityscape, isn't it? like i say, visually it was very well-executed, so i wouldn't be surprised if some of the shots are stunning

obv he is (was) a vile person for doing what he did and deserves at the very least to have his name tarnished

don't complain lj, you received a free pass on this earlier exchange imo

Anyway, Deneuve was in a film just 2 years later that was 3x as shocking, 5x as good, 10x as devastatingly psychological, and in colour. So ner.

― Young Chizzy (country matters), Thursday, April 16, 2009 6:50 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

(and a film moreover with a FAR more interesting take on sexuality, especially the contradictory and spry sexuality of its still-glacial star)

― Young Chizzy (country matters), Thursday, April 16, 2009 6:55 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Belle du Jour?

Much as I love that film, your choices and descriptions are a real give away that you've never been a female.

― emil.y, Thursday, April 16, 2009 6:58 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark

it's been a while! i will have to see it again, as i say. first shot is a london cityscape, isn't it? like i say, visually it was very well-executed, so i wouldn't be surprised if some of the shots are stunning

it's not. see it again. and it goes beyond some "stunning shots" to the very meaning of the movie.

i mean that's like saying an album has some "stunning chords"

well, some stunning melodies maybe

i think i'll be better equipped to appreciate it given what i've seen in the meantime...it's certainly a film i can imagine missing the point of

All this and now the hating on that movie?

What a disaster for Belle du Jour.

Fck, meant Repulsion! WHAT A DISASTER FOR REPULSION!

I didn't really appreciate repulsion until I had to write a paper on it

it's a movie that's more fun to pick apart than it is to watch imo

even if only for the lolfreud symbolism... rotting rabbit, get it?

the first glimpse of the rabbit was my favourite bit of the film...it practically made me jump...beautifully *done* even if the symbolism is a little obvious

even if only for the lolfreud symbolism... rotting rabbit, get it?

I am dum so um... no?

I thought Repulsion was okay but not a patch on my other favorites of his (chinatown, rosemary's baby, lolz Macbeth), but obviously I am missing something

Lay on, Macduff, And damn'd be him that first cries, 'lolz, enough!'

L.A. Times: Roman Polanski attorneys may have provoked arrest by complaining L.A. wasn't serious about arresting director

I'm glad they're not my lawyers

re: Repulsion, i believe i've talked elsewhere on this thread about a paper i once wrote on disembodiment and schizophrenia in Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, and The Tenant. with some mentions of other films of course...

watching the Tenant more than ten times in four days made me feel more than a little o_0

The Tenant is pretty damn funny.

At a press conference earlier today, the Zurich Film Festival jury wore red "Free Polanski" buttons and accused Switzerland of "philistine collusion" in arresting Polanski. "We hope today this latest order will be dropped [as] it is based on a three-decade-old case that is all but dead but for minor technicalities," said jury president Debra Winger. "We stand by and wait for his release and his next masterwork."

Festival de Cannes president Gilles Jacob, Italian star Monica Bellucci and directors Costa-Gavras, Wong Kar Wai and Bertrand Tavernier are among the signatures on a petition demanding Polanski's immediate release. Harvey Weinstein also lent his support to the cause ...

http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2009/09/rally_round_1.php

Do they think they're defending Ezra Pound here?

i don't think it's funny. i thought and continue to think that it is quite a terrifying meditation on the Other, the fluidity of identity, and the death drive.

but what the fuck do i know right, i don't understand why all these douchebags are supporting him or why all these douchebags are adamant about this abstract sense of 'justice.'

lol alfred.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/09/28/polanski_arrest/index.html

well, the Other is very funny at parties, does snappy patter and impressions.

(rlly, I always roffle at the second leap.)

hey. it's not just me!

“A comedy tipped with poison . . .
perfect, typical Polanski.”– Jay Cocks, Time

http://www.filmforum.org/films/tenant.html

i watched repulsion alone in someone else's apartment, which it gave it that certain extra something

the tenant is hilarious

The Tenant is perfect proto-Lynch, wherein hilarity and horror cozily exist side-by-side.

as they always should.

(which is why Dario Argento... never mind)

Do they think they're defending Ezra Pound here?

― Little starbursts of joy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, September 29, 2009 2:59 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is hilarious.

why the fuck is ezra pound a more defensible – apparently *much* more defensible – figure than polanski?

seriously, what is it about pound, unbelievably tedious and fraudeulent before he became a fascist, that you like?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmhIMbdecEU

this is pretty hilarious

"No one does it to you like Roman Polanski."

Whoopi on Polanski: It wasn't rape-rape

Though nice try Whoopi with the "Europeans have sex with children all the time!" argument, or whatever that was

Uh...

tbh, reading reports of the french reaction to this, i can see why she'd think that.

Though nice try Whoopi with the "Europeans have sex with children all the time!" argument, or whatever that was

When in Rome...

...nope, give up.

When in Alabama...

Christ almighty, Whoopi. I like his movies, too, but wtf are you on about? I don't believe in hell, so I think the man should at least die in prison.

SNL seriously needs to get Tracy Morgan to come back and cameo for a parody of that conversation. serious lolz at "allegedly"

Has the victim been quoted anywhere?

Ah yes, here in the NY Times: "The victim in the case, Samantha Geimer, has long publicly identified herself and expressed forgiveness of Mr. Polanski."

That's kind of all I need to know.

Oh is it now.

Oh the man should at least die in prison now.

American prison would be preferable, for my vengeful purposes.

What do you care?

Oh fuck you.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskib1.html

Has the victim been quoted anywhere?

Ah yes, here in the NY Times: "The victim in the case, Samantha Geimer, has long publicly identified herself and expressed forgiveness of Mr. Polanski."

That's kind of all I need to know.

― Nate Carson, Tuesday, September 29, 2009 7:03 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!

http://arthive.scrippscollege.edu/2007_2008/ART_142/YOU_WILL-SP08/KSTATES/morbo.gif

xp You're right, I suppose. It's not my daughter. But Jesus Christ almighty. Does everyone understand what it is that he plead guilty to?

diiiiiiiiee

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wire/la-oe-samantha-geimer23-2003feb23,0,4716430.story

Thanks for that Ward, hadn't ever seen that!

Isn't there another Polanski thread out there to do this on? I started this one in celebration of his movies.

Bit late now, isn't it? Anyway this always comes to mind when I think of RP anyway

I am aware that the victim forgives him, kind of, but she also makes it clear that she would mainly rather not be interviewed about it anymore. And I am aware that his trial was a botched mess of OJ proportions. But what he did, AND PLEAD GUILTY TO, would be rape no matter the girl's age, is rape now, and is totally totally inexcusable under any circumstance and in any culture. It's uglier than sin. It's uglier than Miles Davis wearing plaid. It's very very fucking ugly.

Yes and arresting him now will do what, drama queen

Put him in prison.

... at least put him in a cell with Phil Spector

it makes sense that she'd want to put it behind her.

the weird thing is that the people who are up in arms about this are often disputing that what he did was a crime.

the court case was a complete mess. i have no idea why he was offered such a lenient deal. but skipping bail is also illegal, and surely polanski, who could have afforded the best justice money can buy, didn't really have to fear a fifty-year stretch? he probably should have thought about the possibility of serving time before raping a 13-year-old though.

he probably should have thought about the possibility of serving time before raping a 13-year-old though.

I imagine plenty of others in Hollywood have gotten away with it

...if it wasn't for meddling with kids

MMM SAUSAGES

threads like this are so revealing

I imagine plenty of others in Hollywood have gotten away with it

http://freepages.books.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cooverfamily/pg67.jpg

This case is really bringing out the stupid in people.

Isn't it.

why the fuck is ezra pound a more defensible – apparently *much* more defensible – figure than polanski?

seriously, what is it about pound, unbelievably tedious and fraudeulent before he became a fascist, that you like?

Uh, it was a joke, my friend.

Good one

ezra pound was extremely influential towards a very important, even crucial area of american poetry, and indeed the one i wrote my dissertation upon...his protege louis zukofsky, curator of 'an 'objectivists' anthology', claimed a huge debt towards pound even if his own status as a russian jew set him at great political odds with pound as the 30's wore on...hence ezra pound, while his poetry contains distasteful elements, and while some personal viewpoints may have been morally repugnant, is an important and great figure within modernist poetry

if you like that sort of thing.

im not sure youre using "hence" correctly there louis

Good job you weren't marking his dissertation

one hen, two hence

i thought that post was his dissertation

it makes sense that she'd want to put it behind her.

unfortunate word choice

he made Pirates, hasn't he suffered enough?

I imagine plenty of others in Hollywood have gotten away with it

yes, but for one, Charlie Chaplin married Oona!

Isn't there another Polanski thread out there to do this on? I started this one in celebration of his movies.

Maybe there should be an I Love Film board?

So, who's ever seen Cul de Sac?

it's kinda fun iirc

I remember being a bit bored. It's no Repulsion.

It's weird but not great

The Guardian and The Independent have pieces today saying the dogs should be called off. The Times and The Telegraph say they shouldn't. I say: why has this become a left-right issue? Is that all that 'left' is nowadays, being against stuff?

being against child sexy stuff vs being against extradition of auteurs

What do you mean against? They're in favour of anal child rapists not being prosecuted, as long as they're talented

Polanski beating Scorsese was a high point of the decade in Oscar terms.

i think my fav. thing abt this thread is how many ppl like to gratuitously post some combination of "anal" "rape" "child" and "13 year old"

Not exactly gratuitous, to be fair.

i think my fav. thing abt this thread is how many ppl like to gratuitously post some combination of "anal" "rape" "child" and "13 year old"

A lot of us listen to the blues and Nick Cave.

naw man it's cool if we can't type "anal child rapist" now (TO REMIND EVERYONE WHAT HE DID) when can we

And your point is?

The Guardian actually has a disclaimer noting that it wasn't rape.

my point is basically that this thread sucks i guess

I can't argue with that

really? that's weird because it was, but oh yeah, polanski sued vanity fair in london for saying so the other year and for some reason he was allowed to testify via skype.

xpost

this is what happens when Inglourious Basterds fans weigh in

• Some commenters have simply used the term "rape" in relation to Roman Polanski's 1977 conviction. The offence he pleaded guilty to is often described as "statutory rape" but more precisely as "unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor".

is there any such thing as legal consensual sex with a 13 year old?

this is what happens when an inglorious bastard gets arrested.

is there any such thing as legal consensual sex with a 13 year old?

Sure. Everyone in France does it.

as a defence, that's gonna need some brushing up before the trial

He sued for libel? The story has to be injurious to one's reputation - not a distinction I'd fancy trying to make.

Polanski beating Scorsese was a high point of the decade in Oscar terms.

― boring movies are the most boring (Eric H.), Tuesday, September 29, 2009 3:54 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this is a pretty random comment, but anyway, marty has shown no hard feelings and has signed the 'free roman' petish.

stabbing three people with the pen on his way out

He sued for libel? The story has to be injurious to one's reputation - not a distinction I'd fancy trying to make.

Injurious Basterds

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/23/movies/MoviesFeatures/23pola.html

^^ roman polanski v. vanity fair

Polanski should site Foucault as a precedent.

http://www.movieactors.com/freeze-frames/GIGI/GIGI2006-11-14%2019-45-44-18.jpg

lol that disclaimer comes at the end of an article slamming whoopi goldberg for saying it wasn't rape-rape. classy.

they all mention how he thought she was older than 13 but that doesn't actually matter lol

"lemme tell you about 20-year-olds. half of them are 16."

that petition in full, which also includes woody allen lol. wonder if larry clark will get on board.

http://www.sacd.fr/Le-cinema-soutient-Roman-Polanski-Petition-for-Roman-Polanski.1340.0.html

also includes new times stalwart scott foundas. what is up with that?

also kent jones?!

this is a pretty random comment

It wasn't before my thread was hijacked, is my point.

Woody Allen as a character witness will not help the situation, I think.

i really cannot believe so many people are going to bat for the guy. way to behave like some malkinist fantasy of liberal euro-hollywood.

People are all going on about how bad it is for the victim to have to relive this, but it's the guys whose threads about Polanksi are getting hijacked that are the real victims in all this

Poor Eric H - who we will call H from now on, to protect his anonymity

Eric H better start a list.

I've suggest banned everyone on this thread.

I mean, how dare we discuss director's personal lives and how it affects their work. What are we, auteurists?

Let's return to the matter at hand:

My journal, La Règle du jeu, is working in support of Roman Polanski and mobilizing writers and artists through the following petition:
Apprehended like a common terrorist Saturday evening, September 26, as he came to receive a prize for his entire body of work, Roman Polanski now sleeps in prison.

He risks extradition to the United States for an episode that happened years ago and whose principal plaintiff repeatedly and emphatically declares she has put it behind her and abandoned any wish for legal proceedings.

Seventy-six years old, a survivor of Nazism and of Stalinist persecutions in Poland, Roman Polanski risks spending the rest of his life in jail for deeds which would be beyond the statute-of-limitations in Europe.
We ask the Swiss courts to free him immediately and not to turn this ingenious filmmaker into a martyr of a politico-legal imbroglio that is unworthy of two democracies like Switzerland and the United States. Good sense, as well as honor, require it.

-- Bernard Henry-Levy

jesus christ what a load of shit

The Guardian actually has a disclaimer noting that it wasn't rape.

Oh really now.

blimey @ BHL. im fairly gratified that not too many brits have joined our fellow old-worlders in the free-the-paedo stampede.

Like a common terrorist.

the free-the-paedo stampede

I don't think he's a pedophile. I think he's a rapist. As Whoopi would say, let's be careful to define our terms here.

He might be a rapist but he's not a rapist-rapist. LOL French intellectuals, again.

That guy's not too smart. Far from being beyond any statute-of-limitations, here at least (which is in Europe) the courts are full of historic child sex abuse cases from decades ago. They don't make the papers because they're not big stories, but they are being prosecuted - and not because the accused are big-shot celebrities either.

That guy's not too smart.

LOL French intellectuals

it's shaping up to be the dreyfus affair of the 21st century.

If he had been smart he wouldn't have run. He would have realized that if he stayed in America, he could have bought the verdict he wanted. Guess he felt guilty or something.

has Jack Nicholson made a statement?

You'd think it's a mere technicality, but he did plead guilty.

xp He's always stayed as far away from this as he was from his house at the time.

xp THANK YOU, it is not a technicality. All that awful stuff in the grand jury statement, which can best be boiled down to "child rape" (so sorry to say it!) -- he admits that he did do all those things. He argues that it was consensual, but given the facts, that's just ludicrous. He drugged and raped a child. This is not under contention.

OK, now I really have suggest banned a few people for real.

You'd think it's a mere technicality, but he did plead guilty.

― Ismael Klata, Tuesday, September 29, 2009 5:05 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

"technically a polanski"

LOL. But, yeah, "The Tenant" is great, that would probably have got my vote.

OK, now I really have suggest banned a few people for real.

― boring movies are the most boring (Eric H.), Tuesday, September 29, 2009 11:10 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

haha who

i mean, besides bernard henri-levy

"that petition in full, which also includes woody allen lol. wonder if larry clark will get on board."

Too bad Gary Glitter and the old drummer from Judas Priest missed their opportunity to sign.

damn its really unfortunate that people would use a thread about a director to discuss that directors high profile arrest

id even describe it as "unjust"

SB'ed like a common terrorist

"free roman" is an interesting GIS

they all mention how he thought she was older than 13 but that doesn't actually matter lol

in the transcript of geimer's testimony she says he asked her if she was on the pill, which doesn't strike me as the type of question one would pose to a 13 year old... even still, maybe I'm wrong on this, but drugging + raping women you think are of age isn't commendable behavior

Yeah it's not like he just videotaped himself peeing on her.

um what i was saying was the questions of consent or what he thought her age was are irrelevant because he pleaded guilty to statutory rape and if the people writing these articles were responsible at all they wouldn't mention them. but that's too much to ask!

Seriously, The Tenant is so good it makes me want to get pregnant.

Then watch Rosemary's Baby

"The Tenant" seems most Polanskiesque, more than "Chinatown", which is obviously fantastic

I guess this is a taste of what the board would've been like during The OJ Trial.

Since the stupidest things being said on this thread are mostly posted verbatim from op eds, I'm not sure exactly what your complaint is Morbs. Not that I've seen you post anything of value either.

I would have gone crazy if anyone messed up my Capricorn One thread.

Imagine the cluster-fuck that would be the Hertz Rent-A-Car commercial thread.

Alex, go to hell 1000x.

Oooh I stand corrected as Morbz brings quality critique.

I don't get how the some of same people who are like "hey the law should be the law" when it comes to all the illegal shit that the Bush admin did are suddenly like "woah hasn't this aging rapist pediophile been punished enough. . . I mean jeez he had to live in EUROPE all this time". Seriously I'm not losing a minutes sleep about poor poor Roman and anyone who is either hasn't read the original grand jury transcripts or is a deeply dishonest human being.

uhhhh what movies did bush direct

UNCUT CIA TORTURE FOOTAGE TAKES 1 - 590

Hard to see now since they've been destroyed, of course. Oscar screener controversy X 1,000,000!

That's what I said 1000 xposts ago.

You made the Oscar screener joke. I feel bad now.

the fact that the case was handled poorly and perhaps with little regard for the victim and the fact that roman polanski actually does deserve some punishment for his crime should be considered mutually exclusive

Seventy-six years old, a survivor of Nazism and of Stalinist persecutions in Poland, Roman Polanski risks spending the rest of his life in jail

-- Bernard Henry-Levy

lol @ the most blatant example of "jews are and will be innocent of everything they are accused of everywhere forever and ever because of nazism" defense yet

Courts everywhere take a dim view of flight to avoid serving a sentence, just on general principles.

^ yeah, i'd love to hear his Swiss lawyer for his bail hearing argue that he's not a flight risk.

It's the fleeing part that currently fucks him, even more than the crime. Fugitives generally don't get much sympathy, let alone the luxury of dictating terms. What are the real odds that if Polanski manned up and finally faced the (new) judge, that he wouldn't be able to talk whatever sentence he gets down to directing PSAs for R.A.I.N. or something? He's rich, white and famous enough to steamroll the appeals process, if it even gets to that. Plus, Debra Winger and Whoopi Goldberg have totally got his back. Whoopi doesn't even think it was "rape-rape," and she won an Oscar!

Suggest bans all around.

zizekspeaks: I've tried to avoid the Polanski debacle, but find it curious that Lynch has come down on either side. http://tinyurl.com/ye9ohcj

man if that doesn't move this conversation forward, i don't know what will

The vehemence of the language in the petition is downright bizarre - especially compared with the quotes from the French authorities, which seem to be trying hard not to say anything.

"It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him," said the petition

^ I must have missed the passage of the law that says that you get immunity if you happen to be traveling somewhere where they are paying you "homage".

To be fair the guys on To Catch a Predator always make pretty much the same argument.

I think it's the same passage that says if something is to do with football, the law has no business getting involved.

"inadmissible"

Oh fuck the law, it's not meant to be a value in itself

maybe roman just wanted some Sweet Tea

Oh fuck the law, it's not meant to be a value in itself

― Niles Caulder, Tuesday, September 29, 2009 3:14 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Profound

Soz for taking what the law's invented to protect more seriously than it itself Bill

I have no idea what you're talking about.

"The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance ... opens the way for actions of which no one can know the effects,"

HE'S A FUGITIVE, YOU FUCKING NINNIES.

but he thought he could travel without hindrance, that gives him lifetime immunity imo

niles this is almost a classic performance, wtg man

the hook was well-baited there, niles

"The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance ... opens the way for actions of which no one can know the effects,"

^this is spectacularly unconvincing.

I can't believe all the red herrings in all this commentary. Like, repeatedly bringing up the quotes from the victim. This is not a civil lawsuit, folks, it's a criminals case. It's The People of The State of California vs. Polanski. The victim doesn't get to just drop charges.

And the statute of limitations thing? Excuse me? Haven't we had a lot of high profile cases in Europe of Catholic priests molesting kids decades ago?

the fact that i just ate mcdonalds... opens the way for actions of which no one can know the effects

Y'know, I've been withholding judgment both because of my personal feelings w/r/t his status as one of my fave directors and also because I really don't know enough about the particulars of the case (like, I'd prefer to read the transcripts or something before I condemn him), but all of these people who are simply shocked that anyone had the gall to apprehend a fugitive from justice are just toooooo much. The fact of his fugitivity is unquestionable, at the very least.

Yeah it is. PLEASE SOME AMERICAN TELL ME WHY IT FUCKING MATTERS

It's The People of The State of California vs. Polanski. The victim doesn't get to just drop charges.

Dunno the details this at all, but if she refuses to give evidence, will the case then just get dropped anyway?

he was already convicted

Of course, yes. Carry on...

well he pleaded guilty but i thought the judge had not accepted it yet since he ran away before he could be sentenced

i mean he was going to. wait maybe i'm wrong

It matters because laws are meant to act indiscriminately, in fact are expressly designed to do so, and yeah the truth and life are often messy grey areas (though this case isn't, particularly). Despite this any law bound society has to enforce its laws and not simply say "eh we can let this one slide, it's a bit weird."

Yeah it is. PLEASE SOME AMERICAN TELL ME WHY IT FUCKING MATTERS

― Niles Caulder, Tuesday, September 29, 2009 3:48 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I'm sorry you're so disappointed, Chief.

yeah nm xpost to myself

if there's enough other evidence against an accused, you don't need the victim to testify at all - murder cases would be a bit hard to prosecute otherwise

^^^ this is why it's hard for voodoo forensics specialists

is there much evidence other than her testimony though?

how about that fact that he PLEADED GUILTY