The director had pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl while photographing her during a modeling session.Which is, I guess, one way of describing what happened. Another might be:
Polanski feed a 13-year-old girl Quaaludes and champagne, then performed cunnilingus on her while she said no. He then anally raped her while she said no.*Just to be clear, Polanski does not dispute that any of this happened, he just doesn't understand what is so horribly wrong about the whole thing. I guess he is not alone, as the French Culture Minister Fredric Mitterand threw out the "ugly American" charge today:
Mitterrand told a press briefing that the arrest is "absolutely horrifying" and the case is "an old story which doesn't really make any sense."[Interestingly, this article about the worldwide "shock and outrage" at Polanski's arrest does not even mention what it is the director did to get him in all this trouble. Ah, the little details.]
"We know the conditions that this happened in, and while there is a generous America that we like, there is also a side of America which scares and that side has just showed us its face," he told reporters.
So I guess I am an ugly American. I know that in France drugging and raping 13-year-old girls is considered standard after-dinner entertainment, but at least in this respect I hope America remains just as provincial as we can be.
More at LGM and a good summary of the conversation.
*From her 1977 Grand Jury testimony:
Q: What happened then?
A: He reached over and he kissed me. And I was telling him, "No," you know "keep away."
...
Q: What did he do when he placed his mouth on your vagina?
A: He was just like licking and I don't know. I was ready to cry. I was kind of -- I was going "No. Come on. Stop it." But I was afraid.
...
Q: Did he say anything after that?
A: Yes. He goes, "would you want me to go in through your back?" And I went "No"
...
Q: When you say he went in your anus, what do you mean by that?
A: He put his penis in my butt.
Q: Did he say anything at that time?
A: no?
Q: Did you resist at that time?
A: A little bit but not really because -- (pause)
Q: Because what?
A: because I was afraid of him
2 comments:
So I know that this has, somehow, turned into a pop-culture joke and that there are many who feel he is being unfairly persecuted (like the woman who said that the victim doesn't want to go to trial and doesn't want to see him in jail, so why the big deal?!) but I gotta admit, the transcript made me sick to my stomach. Regardless of passage of time, regardless of whether or not he's (been caught) committing other crimes, he still did something pretty horrible, and admitted to it, and should probably deal with the consequences--both legal and civil, no?
Fuck Roman Polanski, indeed.
PS--Enjoyed your serving of the France haterade.
Thank you for writing about this, Dave. There are times, reading/listening to these stories, when I think I'M the one who's crazy. This situation is disgusting.
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