It wasn’t long ago that Roman Polanski was a centerpiece of the film industry in France, where the director has lived since 1978, when he fled the United States just** before he was sentenced after pleading guilty to raping a 13-year-old girl**. Despite the scandal and legal problems, the author continued to function as a filmmaker in his adopted country, celebrated as a life member of the illustrious Académie des Beaux Arts (Academy of Fine Arts) of France.
An impunity with consequences
Not only has the director been able to work, but he has received half a dozen César awards, the last three, including best director, are for his 2019 drama ‘The officer and the spy’, with a very controversial gala in 2019. But things are changing and more recent allegations of sexual misconduct have sparked outrage from French feminist groups and prompted the 21-member board of the organization that oversees the Césars to resign en masse.
On the anniversary of César de la Meilleure Réalisation pour Roman Polanski (“J’accuse”), Adèle Haenel quit la salle.
the meilleur des #Caesar2020 > https://t.co/ipnVwouBeV pic.twitter.com/7xa0CTbU3H
— CANAL+ (@canalplus) February 28, 2020
Polanski has denied the most recent misconduct allegations and his latest film became a huge success in France, where it grossed more than $11 million. But now the French appear to have reacted. His next film ‘The Palace’, a black comedy that takes place in a posh hotel in the resort of Gstaad in the Swiss Alps, where he is currently shooting, he has not been able to find French financing, as producer Luca regrets. Barbareschi in Variety:
“‘The Palace’ takes a lot of passion and a lot of patience. It has a budget of 17 million euros and has been filming for 15 weeks, with two more to go. I managed to put the production together over the course of a year without France, since France did not want to invest a euro in Polanski. This really hurt me.”
‘The Palace’ is an Italian, Swiss and Polish co-production between Eliseo Multimedia and RAI Cinema, Lucky BOB from Poland and CAB from Switzerland. Some other investors disappeared after the film started shootingbut the frightened French was not expected.
“If this film is not released in France, it would be a crime. I have invested 4 million from my pocket, Considering that ‘The officer and the spy’ was not released in any English-speaking country, this scares me. It has also been difficult to cast. Several actors turned down roles for fear that working with Polanski would tarnish their careers, although no one said so in those terms. Every movie has its karma. In the end, we get the best cast he could have hoped for, though “some defections haven’t come easy for Roman, especially from actors in smaller roles.”
Wild Bunch have closed deals with unspecified distributors in Germany and Spain at Cannes. ‘The Palace’ features a cast made up of German actor Oliver Masucci, Fanny Ardant, Mikey Rourke, John Cleese, Joaquín De Almeida, Viktor Donbronravov and Fortunato Cerlino (“Gomorra”). Written by Polanski and Jerzy Skolimowski, is set entirely in the Palace Hotel in Gstaad on New Year’s Eve on the eve of the new millennium and takes place in less than 24 hours, in the refuge for the most privileged strata of society: aristocracy, artists and celebrities, businessmen and financiers, hustlers, swindlers and wannabes. The music is by Alexandre Desplat, along with Polanski’s regular cinematographer Pawel Edelman, editor Hervé de Luze, and costume designer Carlo Poggioli.