Roman Polanski is notably accused of two rapes and, after the wave #MeToo, the world of cinema has largely turned its back on him; Kate Winslet, for example, said “to regret” to have shot for him during an interview for Vanity Fair in 2020. The now 89-year-old director, expelled from the Academy of Oscars, can count on an ultimate circle of relatives to support him stubbornly.
This is the case for example of the actress Fanny Ardant. In the pages of the magazine Point (August 2022), she returned to the Polanski case and, faithful to her line of conduct towards the man – she had not tasted the attacks and mockery of Florence Foresti, mistress of ceremonies for the Césars in 2020 against the director – , she says:I worked with Roman, I admired the man and I think friendship and love must come before the law. Otherwise what ? Are we all snitch?“
Admittedly accused of rape since 1977 by Samantha Gailey, who has since been demanding that we forget this affair, the director Roman Polanski was able to pursue his career afterwards without too many waves even if he is deprived of territory in the United States, where he risk immediate arrest. Then came the movement #MeToo which brought him back into the spotlight and, ultimately, new charges. In 2019, Valentine Monnier, ex-model and French photographer, then accused the director of rape, citing events that occurred in 1975. Our colleagues from France Info do not fail to point out that it is a total of 12 women who wear accusations of rape or sexual assault against Roman Polanski. But, obviously, for Fanny Ardant, this in no way upsets her friendship with the director.
“There is something irreducible in Novel that we haven’t broken. When you see the life he had, you understand. I know very few people who have gone through all these ordeals, the Krakow ghetto, the murder of his wife Sharon Tate… Yes, he made mistakes. But who hasn’t? Half of us should be in jail“, adds Fanny Ardant, to defend her friend.