t is often difficult to separate a person’s talent from his personal life. “Controversial” doesn’t even begin to cover director Roman Polanski, a still-boyish-looking 76. He avoided Nazi concentration camps during World War II by hiding with sympathetic Catholic families.
In 1969 his wife, actress Sharon Tate, was murdered in his home by the Charles Manson gang. Then he was convicted of the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl and fled to Europe.
So he could not return to the U.S. to accept his Oscar for Best Director for The Pianist (2002). This splendid film stars Adrien Brody as a world-class pianist who hides from the Nazis through all the war. The set pieces of a ravaged Warsaw are amazing, and this memorable film is accomplished with very little dialogue. It is a directorial masterpiece.
Almost 40 years ago, Mr. Polanski directed Chinatown (1974), with Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in one of the best private-eye films ever made. This noirish classic holds up really well, with many scenes that ring through the years.
And even further back, Roman Polanski brought us Rosemary’s Baby, a film so scary I still get a chill just writing about it. If you think these modern teen-age slasher flicks are scary, check out this story of gradually increasing doom and hold onto your socks.
Tess (1980) is a superb rendering of Thomas Hardy’s classic Tess of the D’Urbervilles, with Natasha Kinski (later Polanski’s wife) in the title role, a girl trying to claw her way up from poverty to the upper class.
Some of Mr. Polanski’s other films of note include Knife In The Water (1958, a Polish ménage a trios both thrilling and scary), Frantic (1988, with Harrison Ford as an American diplomat whose wife is the victim of an unlikely kidnapping), and Death and the Maiden (1998, with Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver in another directorial gem reproduced from a very claustrophobic play).
By the way, there are definitely two sides to the extradition controversy. For a balanced view, check out Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008).
All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are strictly for grown-ups.
Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.
