Roman Polanksi: Wanted and Desired (2008)

Marina Zenovich's severly interesting and refreshing documentary Roman Polanksi: Wanted and Desired rehashes a whole lotta stuff that was widely known about the famous horror film director and his 1977-78 trial for having sexual intercourse with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer.

What Wanted and Desired brings up that has never really been touched upon before is that despite what Polanksi admittedly did with an underage girl, he was unfairly treated in the courts by Judge Laurence J. Rittenband because of his celebrity and the sensationalism of the trial caused by the media. Featuring home videos of Polanksi, the film chronicles on other aspects of his life like his tragic childhood, tragic marriage to Sharon Tate, and the terrifying visionary he was to become as a filmmaker of the grotesque.

When Roman Polanksi, who was the renowned director of Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant, The Fearless Vampire Killers, and Repulsion took topless, 13-year-old Samantha Geimer into Jack Nicholson's hot tub and proceeded to sodomize her orally (and otherwise) after giving her champagne, the shit hit the fan. Maybe that shit is cool in Europe, but it ain't here. Polanksi had been known to go for VERY young girls (he had an affair with 15-year-old Natassia Kinski earlier that year) and the public didn't approve. What was kept out of the media at the time is that the girl had been sleeping with Jack Nicholson and warren Beatty, literally she'd been 'pimped out' by her mom, who herself was an actress who enjoyed being around the rich and famous. "My mom and I thought the photos would help my acting career," Geimer says, laughing, "I wanted to be a movie star."

Film still or photograph? sometimes it was hard to tell with Roman's life.

It's never specifically stated, ever, anywhere, (not even in Marina Zenovich's documentary) but what this writer thinks happened is that little Samantha had never had anal sex before, and when Roman coerced her into doing it, she didn't know how to handle it. Rather than come out with the truth that she had in fact been sleeping with Polanksi in order to make her career explode, Samantha and Samantha's mother claimed that Polanski had forced all sexual activity on her. Samantha's life was already a nightmare at this point (can you imagine growing up like that?) but now it was about to get even worse. And so was Polanksi's.

Superior Court Judge Laurence J. Rittenband, the 83-year-old "judge of the stars" whose legal career spanned 60 years, who had presided over Elvis Presley's divorce, Marlon Brando's child custody battle, a paternity suit against Cary Grant and the "Billionaire Boys Club" murder trial of Joe Hunt, was assigned to the case, and every move he made was about his image in the eyes of the press, not about getting Polanksi a fair trial. Zenovich meticulously chronicles the lies, betrayals, and completely illegal activity on the part of Judge Rittenband, which lead ultimately to the prosecuting attorney agreeing to testify in favor of a mistrial. Of course, Polanksi had decided a far better plan was to cut and run, leaving the United States forever. Even when he was nominated for an Oscar for The Piano in 2003, Polanksi could not set foot in the United States to receive it. Despite his stigma as a child molester, he continued to do very well with the films Frantic and The Piano, (his horror film The Ninth Gate sucked, frankly) outside of the United States.

Polanksi in happier times, with bride Sharon Tate

Interspersed with this information is Zenovich's cleverly tied-in home video of Polanksi in happier times, and in sadder times. She shows us a very complicated man, who watched his family torn apart at the hand of the Nazi's (his mother was killed in a concentration camp) and whose one true love, actress Sharon Tate, was brutally murdered at the hands of the Manson Family in 1969. Check out also Polanksi's ever-more-violent and disturbing films, many of which he starred in, that reflected the growing despair and anger inside him.

Mia Farrow, who worked with Polanksi on Rosemary's Baby, seems to recall a very happy and caring man who adored his wife Sharon. Cheesy film crews and newscasters rabidly sensationalize the headlines of 1977 by following the trial like starving dogs. Samantha Geimer, now all grown up, sticks to her story of rape as does Polanksi to his story of consensual sex. Her presence in the film is the most confusing of all as she doesn't seem to know what she wants to say; except that she is innocent of the following madness that surrounded Polanski.

This was a man of extreme highs and devastating lows. Watching him change from the excited young man falling in love with Sharon Tate on the set of Fearless Vampire Killers to the bedraggled middle-aged man awaiting a 50-year jail sentence, and everything in between, is a harrowing trip for any viewer. Undeniably, the most fascinating aspect of Roman Polanski is his talent and drive as a filmmaker. Zenovich ties in his filmmaking style to his personality as if the two could not be separated. And in light of the way she presents the evidence, it seems that she is right.