Review of Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired (2008) by Andrew O — 19 Oct 2008

Unlike other reviewers, I didn't find this especially illuminating. I don't suppose we'll ever know exactly what happened on March 10 1977, to what extent, if any, Polanski was entrapped, or just what was going on in his head to make him do something so unforgivably vile, but I did expect Samantha Geimer, Polanski's victim, to set the story straighter than she does here.

Combining archive news footage and old Polanski interviews with the recollections of some of the characters directly or indirectly involved in the case (Geimer, Assistant D.A.s, attorneys, retired L.A.

P.D. officers, journalists, Polanski's cronies, etc) the film is more or less just a record of the media circus that ensued after the director's arrest. An entertaining but disappointingly superficial piece of muckraking, the documentary only really fascinates on the subject of the trial, as retold by the prosecution and defence attorneys, where Polanski became the plaything of judge more obsessed with his own celebrity than justice.