Cesar Awards boss defends Roman Polanski as a "great man"

Controversy has surrounded France’s 2017 Cesar Awards as feminists voiced their concern over director Roman Polanski’s proposed involvement.

In case you hadn’t heard, bosses at the Cesar Awards had hoped to appoint the famed film director as president of this year’s event, which was bound to cause controversy and anger due to the ongoing US arrest warrant he has after fleeing the country before his rape trial dating back to the late-1970s.

To clarify, Polanski was accused of raping a 13-year-old – a crime which he pleaded guilty to in a capacity of statutory rape in 1977. After agreeing a plea bargain with the judge which meant five of the six charges were dropped if he admitted to one, which was the statutory rape, Polanski was informed by close a friend, screenwriter Howard E. Koch, that the judge actually intended to sentence him to 50 years. Fearing this, Polanski fled the US and ended up in the UK. Essentially he’s been on the run for decades, unable to return to the US, and living in France where he holds a duel passport, thus avoiding his sentencing.

With the above in mind, actors and filmmakers are still happy to work with him. So when he was appointed as a senior figure for this year’s Cesar Awards, he was put under pressure from a rightly enraged feminist group and declined the festival’s offer.

Now academy president Alan Terzian has addressed the situation and voiced his controversial opinions on the director. According to The Hollywood Reporter, he branded the filmmaker of classics such as ‘Chinatown’, ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, and ‘The Pianist’ as “a great figure of global cinema,” and that he is “a great artist of the world.”

Terzian went on to say: “Polanski decided not to take the position, I don’t get involved in these types of scandals…. The only thing we need to look at is his work as an artist.”

It’s clear to see why his comments, as well as the initial appointment, would cause problems.

Firstly, Polanski has admitted to statutory rape of a child and then left the country to avoid punishment. That alone should be enough to dissuade people from admiring and associating themselves with him. But the fact Terzian makes the suggestion we should simply play attention to and judge him on the quality of his films alone is absurd. Do we look back on Rolf Harris and still admire him for his artistry skills? Of course not. Do we still applaud Jimmy Savile for his tireless charity work? Absolutely not. So why should Polanski be given the benefit of the doubt?

Polanski’s currently filming ‘Based on a True Story’, starring Eva Green, Emmanuelle Seigner, and Vincent Perez.

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