In some ways, Roman Polanski's life reads like a horror movie. A Polish Jew, he
hid from the Nazis, posing as an Aryan while his mother and other members of his family were killed. He lost his wife, actress Sharon Tate, to the Charles Manson clan in 1969.
In 1978, he fled America after having been charged with the statutory rape of a fourteen-year-old girl. He remains in exile in Europe. But what a career he's had.
A common theme of isolation and alienation runs through his best films, beginning with Repulsion (1965). The story of a beautiful woman, played by Catherine Deneuve, who has a mental collapse which leads to murder, is a classic.
Rosemary's Baby made three years
later, is one of the most influential horror films of all time. Mia Farrow headed a top-notch cast in the story based on Ira Levin's bestseller, involving devil worship and betrayal.
Not much gore in these two films, but Polanski went all out with his version of Shakespeare's Macbeth (1971). It's a true horror film, bloody and
terrifying. Many people at the time thought it was inappropriate that he made such a violent film after the tragedy involving his wife. He starred himself in The Tenant (1976),
and while not as successful as he would have liked, it's still a riveting film.
In between
all of this, he found time to make what's considered one of the greatest films of the 70s
and his most acclaimed, Chinatown (1974). It won him great respect from his peers and an
Academy Award nomination in the process. A brilliant filmmaker, we hope he is able
to return to the United States to continue where he left off.
| NOTABLE POLANSKI FILMS
|
YEAR |
| Cul-de-sac |
1966 |
| Knife in the Water |
1962 |
| The Fearless Vampire Killers |
1967 |
| Macbeth |
1971 |
| Repulsion |
1965 |
| Rosemary's Baby |
1968 |
| The Tenant |
1976 |
