Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Roman Polanski Wanted and Desired is a 2008 documentary film directed by Marina Zenovich. It concerns film director Roman Polanski and his sexual abuse case. It examines the events that led to Polanski fleeing the United States after being embroiled in a controversial trial, and his unstable reunion with his adopted country. A followup to the film, also directed by Zenovich, titled Roman Polanski Odd Man Out was released onMarch 2013, detailing Polanskis successful legal battle to avoid extradition to the US, a battle that took place after Roman Polanski Wanted and Desired came out.

Cathleen McGuigan, reviewing the film for Newsweek, referred to the film as deft and subtle and particularly noted an enigmatic little scene near the end where you see a fierce old whale of a man in a chair, banging a drum while an elfin youth jumps and hops to the beats, like a puppet on a string. The hopping boy finally escapes his tormentor by scurrying and tumbling across a field, running toward the Eiffel Tower in the distance. The tyrannized, barefoot kid is Polanski himself, and the footage is from a 16minute short called The Fat and the Lean that he made in 1961, on the brink of his fame as a brilliant new European director. The wordless scene may last less than a minute in Marina Zenovichs documentary, but it sticks with you, and it echoes another clip in her film. This one is from a television interview Polanski did decades later where he says he felt like a mouse with which an abominable cat was making sport. The cat in question was Los Angeles Judge Laurence J. Rittenband, whod presided over the directors 1977 criminal case for having sex with a 13yearold girl.One negative review by Bill Wyman, writing for Salon, stated The film, which has inexplicably gotten all sorts of praise, whitewashes what Polanski did in blatant and subtle fashion. The tone is set early on, when a friend of Polanskis tells of being woken up and informed that the director had to call his attorney. The moment is actually played for laughs, with interspersed shots of a worried Mia Farrow using the phone in a scene from Rosemarys Baby that, too, about a horrifically abused woman. But the scene isnt used to illustrate the victims story its about poor Roman. Hes the person making the desperate phone call. Its an odd juxtaposition when you think about it. ........

Source: Wikipedia