Roman Polanski Apologizes--Sort Of

At the close of a new film about his life, Roman Polanski makes the closest thing to an apology for a rape case which led to his being a fugitive for decades.

Andrew Hough at the Telegraph reports:

The 78 year-old the Oscar-winning director But the Polish-French film maker stopped short of making a full public apology, in the documentary Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir, that premiered at the festival on Tuesday.

"She is a double victim: my victim and a victim of the press," he said near the end of Laurent Bouzereau's film that claimed to offer his “version of the story of his life”.

In 1977, Polanski plied the teenager with champagne and drugs during a photo shoot in Los Angeles before raping her at the Hollywood home of his friend, Jack Nicholson.

Because he's never answered the charges, Polanski has been living in France, a country that won't extradite him. He was arrested by Swiss authorities two years ago but released on a technicality before he could come to the United States to stand trial. Hough's piece notes how fawning celebrities like Kate Winslet continue to be over Polanski's ouevre, despite a history that's shady at best, despicable at worst.