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Rape allegations: Polanski film start accompanied by protests

2019-11-13T17:47:04.692Z


"J'accuse," is the name of the new film by Roman Polanski, which is now in French cinemas. But the PR campaign is stalling - because the director is confronted with rape allegations.



The launch of the new film by Oscar winner Roman Polanski in France is accompanied by protests: Several dozen women demonstrated on Tuesday evening in the Latin Quarter in front of a cinema in which "J'accuse" should be shown as pre-premiere. They called the director a "rapist" and accused the film industry of a "silence cartel". Thereupon the demonstration was canceled.

Valentine Monnier, a former French model, recently accused the director, who lives in France, of raping her in 1975 at his home in the Swiss ski resort of Gstaad. She was then 18 years old, Polanski 42. Polanski rejects the allegations.

Polanski's lawyer Hervé Temine expressed his disapproval of "Le Parisien" that Monnier's accusation was made public shortly before the French theatrical release of "J'accuse". Monnier says she has written to various people and instances in the case for two years, including Los Angeles police, Brigitte Macron and Marlène Schiappa, Secretary of State for Gender Equality in the French government. She finally turned to the media when she learned of Polanski's new film, as the coverage of "J'accuse" revived her "traumatic memories": "Rape is a time bomb," Monnier said.

Lead actor canceled interview

The now 86-year-old Polanski has been wanted for decades in the US for rape of a minor by the police. In 1977 he had sex with the then 13-year-old Samantha Geimer, a year later he fled the US. The Oscar, which he won in 2003 for "The Pianist", he did not accept at the gala in Los Angeles, but only later in France. Since then, other women have reported Polanski's sexual assault in the 1970s and 1980s.

In his new film, which will be released in Germany in February under the title "Intrigue" in the cinemas, it is about the Dreyfus affair: the case of the Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus, who was wrongly convicted in France in 1894 for treason. Some critics accuse the Holocaust survivor Polanski of wanting to stylize itself with the film itself the victim of an intrigue.

The actor Jean Dujardin, one of the main characters of "J'accuse", withdrew a scheduled appearance in the prime time news of the French television station TF1, after the allegations of Valentine Monnier had become known.

Dujardin had previously expressed solidarity with actress Adèle Haenel, who had made public earlier this month that she had been sexually molested as a minor by French director Christophe Ruggia. The statement by Haenel had given the #Metoo debate in France new explosive. Adèle Haenel said in a statement Valentine Monnier their support.

Polanski's film was awarded the "Jury Grand Prix", the second prize, at the Venice Film Festival. There were further pre-premieres in Paris cinemas on Tuesday evening, including one of celebrities visited in the "UGC Normandie" on the Champs-Elysées. There, "J'accuse" was honored with applause. Polanski was present, according to "purepeople.com" and several film critics. The "Figaro" reports that several guests of the premiere spoke of wanting to "separate the man from the director".

Source: spiegel

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