Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir

An intimate sit-down conversation with filmmaker Roman Polanski, conducted by his long-time friend, Laurent Bouzereau, takes place after Polanski was detained and arrested in Switzerland in 2009 after arriving from Paris to attend a film festival. The warrant for Polanski stemmed from an arrest in Los Angeles in 1977, after the director fled the United States before going to court on a statutory rape case involving an underage girl. Polanski, having recently served nine weeks in solitary confinement before being placed under house arrest, is in a Zen-like mood, reflective and thoughtful. The only emotion he sidesteps is regret. He wonders when "all this" will end, he worries what toll his arrest will take on his wife and children, without contemplating why he was arrested or what he can personally do to bring an end to this chapter in his life. Bouzereau is soft on his friend, he doesn't prod Polanski or drag answers out of him, and yet maybe that's what Polanski needs to wake up. The man is an artist, a celebrity, a husband and a father, but he's also half-asleep--perhaps as a way to ignore his problems. They're not just going to go away. **1/2 from ****