Roman Polanski’s new film “An Officer and a Spy”, a portrayal
of the notorious Dreyfus Affair in 19th-century France, premiered at the Venice
Film Festival on Friday to renewed controversy over the director, given his
conviction for a sex crime.
Polanski has sought to compare his own situation with that of
Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish artillery officer in the French army who in 1894 was
convicted of treason and shipped to the Devil’s Island penal colony off South
America’s Atlantic coast.
Dreyfus’ conviction was
criticized as being motivated by anti-Semitism and the case deeply split
France. He was eventually exonerated.
Polanski, who fled the United
States after pleading guilty in 1977 to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old
girl in Los Angeles, said in production notes he was “familiar with many of the
workings of the apparatus of persecution shown in the film, and that has
clearly inspired me.”
The French-Polish director
did not attend the Venice festival, where the French-language film is one of 21
in competition for the Golden Lion prize. It was presented by cast members,
including Polanski’s wife Emmanuelle Seigner, and producers.
Festival organizers have
faced criticism for including it in the program but have defended the move,
saying it is the film and not the man being judged.
At the start of a news
conference, where Seigner, actors Jean Dujardin and Louis Garrel were applauded
on arrival, producer Luca Barbareschi said only questions about the movie would
be answered.
“This is not a moral
tribunal,” he said. “The past is in the past, we need to focus on the present.
The film must speak for itself, the jury must judge and the public, if they
want, can applaud.”
Polanski fled the United
States in 1978 for fear a deal for leniency with prosecutors would be overruled
and he would get a lengthy prison term. Now aged 86, he lives in Europe.
His history came under
renewed scrutiny as the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse and harassment
grew in the wake of allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein in
2017.
Last year, he was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences.
HISTORY
In “An Officer and a Spy”,
Oscar winner Dujardin plays Lieutenant Colonel Georges Picquart, who in 1896
found evidence the traitor was someone else and not Dreyfus. He reported this
to his superiors, who declined to take the matter further.
“I approached this film with
hindsight, modesty and knowing that history is the star of the film,” Dujardin
said.
In the production notes,
French writer Pascal Bruckner asks Polanski about his own “persecution,” which
he says began when his actress wife Sharon Tate was murdered in 1969 by
followers of cult leader Charles Manson.
“Most of the people who
harass me do not know me and know nothing about the case,” Polanski says.
“All this still haunts me
today. Anything and everything. It is like a snowball, each season adds another
layer. Absurd stories by women I have never seen before in my life who accuse
me of things which supposedly happened more than half a century ago.”
At an early morning screening
of the film, based on the book by Robert Harris, audiences cheerfully applauded
once the credits rolled up.
“The film itself is a solid
decent movie and it might be accepted that way,” Scott Roxborough, European
bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter, said.
“But I think because of all
the controversy surrounding Polanski, it’s going to be very difficult for
people to separate the two.”
Critics were divided and many
disputed the parallels Polanski cited in his production notes.
The Guardian described the
film as “a solid, well-crafted piece of professional carpentry” while IndieWire
called it a “dull procedural drama.”
“It’s (a) meticulous production, made with robust confidence by
the 86-year-old director, and I wish I could say it was Polanski working at
peak form,” Variety’s Owen Gleiberman wrote.
“But it’s a film that tells
you things more than it gets you to feel them.”