Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
by Marina Zenovich
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Actor: Istvan Bajzat, Madeline Bessmer, Marilyn Beck, Pedro Almodvar, Steve BarshopDirector: Marina Zenovich
Brand: Roman
Writer: Marina Zenovich
Writer: Joe Bini
Writer: P.G. Morgan
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-01-27
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Velocity / Thinkfilm
DVD Reviews of Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
DVD Review: Fascinating Story, Crappy Filmmaking
Summary: 2 Stars
The history of Polanski's legal troubles have a lot more twists and turns than I was aware of before watching this film. As the teaser on the cover of the DVD says, "The truth couldn't fit in the headlines." But the way the filmmakers present it is really sloppy and confusing. I kept wanting to have some context for these events in Polanksi's life and career, but the film didn't present a clear chronology, especially at the beginning. And the things it left out were really mind-boggling. For example, an extended segment talks about his wife's murder: how it affected him, the press's coverage, etc. Yet it never explains that Tate was killed by the Manson family (although a brief allusion to this fact is made in passing later on in the film). Astounding. How could they leave out such a basic, elemental part of Polanski's story? It's like the filmmakers assume you already know all these things. But then why would you be watching this?
By far the most baffling, incomprehensible part of the film concerns one of the key events. After Polanski had undergone a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation, he went to Europe to begin work on a film with Dino De Laurentis. The final ruling in his case was to be delivered some weeks or months later; he was not in custody and therefore free to travel. While in Europe, he was photographed with a "girl" in a beer hall. The photo was shown to Rittenband, the judge in Polanksi's case. According to the film, Rittenband thought it was an outrage that Polanski would let himself be photographed with a "girl" in this way, as if he were flouting the court's jurisdiction over him. I use quotation marks because the "girl" in the photo appears, to me at least, to be a young woman, about 19 or 20. I don't believe that anybody would peremptorily mistake this young woman to be a minor of 16 or younger. Since she does appear to be on the young side, however, a zealous prosecutor or judge might have attempted to ascertain the woman's factual age--detective work that this film does not do--but you certainly could not conclude from this photo alone that Polanski was having sex with minors in Europe. Such a conclusion is patently irrational, but this film seems to be suggesting that's what the lawyers and judge in California were thinking. It was supposedly on the basis of this photo that the judge came down heavy on Polanski and threatened him with the maximum punishment in absentia. The whole thing doesn't make sense. Were the key players really that insane, or is the film simply doing a lousy job of telling the story in a clear way? The quotations the film uses suggest that the prosecution and judge might have actually been angered by the fact that Polanski was drinking and partying in Europe at a time when he was supposed to be contritely hard at work. That also seems to be way out of a court's jurisdiction--after all, Polanski wasn't in custody, so he should have been able to do as he pleased, as long as it was legal. My point is that, after seeing this film, it's just really hard to tell what people were actually saying and thinking.
The filmmakers' unstated agenda--to vindicate Polanski--is also evident from the things it leaves out. He has admitted in recent years, for example, that he was unfaithful to his first wife, Sharon Tate. Her violent murder serves--in this film as in many other books and films about Polanski--to turn him into a tragic figure. The film doesn't mention his infidelity to Tate, instead focusing on how "happy" they were, and how devastated he was by her death. Those things may be true, but the fact that he was unfaithful presents a more complex, ambiguous picture--one that would be worthy of a Polanski film. But not this one.
In short, I thought this film was very confusing in the places I wanted clarity--the facts--and overly simplistic in its interpretation of the facts--"Polanski is a haunted, yet gifted artist who was treated unfairly by the justice system," blah, blah.
Description of Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Genre: Documentary
Rating: NR
Release Date: 27-JAN-2009
Media Type: DVD
When Polanski?s defense attorney says midway through this film that he "isn?t surprised Polanski left under the circumstances" surrounding this corrupted court case, one really begins to understand why the director has not returned to America in nearly 20 years. Wanted and Desired, Marina Zenovich?s documentary about Polanski?s 1977 arrest for rape of a minor set facts straight about a case that was blown to ridiculous proportions by a sensationalistic press and a judge who was far from judicious. Comprised of interviews with producers and friends Andrew Braunsberg, Daniel Melnick, Mia Farrow, and many others, the film obviously sympathizes with Polanski. But ample interviews with D.A. Roger Gunson and defense attorney, Douglas Dalton, lend factual credence to the film?s assertion that the director was not guilty as charged and further, shows how separate public image and the real person are. Wanted and Desired covers the tragic loss of his wife, Sharon Tate, only to preface the court case and Polanski?s departing the country as a result. Short clips from many of his fine films are interspersed to poignant effect between interview clips, to show how his public image has been wrongly writ based on his films? dark subject matter. Polanski?s lack of participation in the film, then, seems not like his condemnation of its making, but rather in keeping with his desire to avoid press in general. At best, Wanted and Desired may serve as a further invitation to the brilliant director, who has been living in France for almost 20 years with a wife and two children, to someday return to America. ?Trinie Dalton
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