In this searing memoir, the author, "the girl" at the center of the infamous Roman Polanski sexual assault case, breaks a virtual thirty-five year silence to tell her story and reflect on the events of that day and their lifelong repercussions. March 1977, Southern California. Roman Polanski drives a rented Mercedes along Mulholland Drive to Jack Nicholson's house. Sitting next to him is an aspiring actress, Samantha Geimer, recently arrived from York, Pennsylvania. She is thirteen years old. The undisputed facts of what happened in the following hours appear in the court record: Polanski spent hours taking pictures of Samantha on a deck overlooking the Hollywood Hills, on a kitchen counter, topless in a Jacuzzi. Wine and Quaaludes were consumed, balance and innocence were lost, and a young girl's life was altered forever, eternally cast as a background player in her own story. For months on end, the Polanski case dominated the media in the U.S. and abroad. But even with the extensive coverage, much about that day and the girl at the center of it all remains a mystery. Just about everyone had an opinion about the renowned director and the girl he was accused of drugging and raping. Who was the predator? Who was the prey? Was the girl an innocent victim or a cunning Lolita artfully directed by her ambitious stage mother? How could the criminal justice system have failed all the parties concerned in such a spectacular fashion? Once Polanski fled the country, what became of Samantha, the young girl forever associated with one of Hollywood's most notorious episodes? Samantha, as much as Polanski, has been a fugitive since the events of that night more than thirty years ago. Taking us far beyond the headlines, this memoir reveals a thirteen-year-old who was simultaneously wise beyond her years and yet terribly vulnerable. By telling her story in full for the first time, Samantha reclaims her identity, and indelibly proves that it is possible to move forward from victim to survivor, from confusion to certainty, from shame to strength.

This is the long-forgotten and long out-of-print memoir of a genius storyteller...as great as his greatest movie. 20th Anniversary of the original publication.

This is the story of Roman Polanski's career from his early work such as 'Knife in the Water', through to his latest masterpiece, 'Carnage'.

This book offers an examination of the films of Roman Polanski, focusing on the impact that his life as an exile has had upon his work. Roman Polanski: A Life in Exile is a revealing look at this acclaimed filmmaker whose life in exile seems to have made his films all the more personal and powerful. Written by a film critic, this insightful book follows Polanski's story from his childhood in a World War II Jewish ghetto to his early films in Poland; from his American breakout, Rosemary's Baby, to his wife's murder by the Manson family; from the spectacular return of Chinatown, to his exile as a convicted sex criminal, to the monumental career peak, The Pianist. The Holocaust, the oppression of communism, the shattering of the swinging 60s, the decadence of Hollywood, the life of a fugitive—Polanski experienced all of these firsthand, and understanding those experiences provides a fascinating pathway through his work.

Polanski is one of the most talented and distinguished of modern film makers. A well-informed cultural traveller, interested in the position of the outsider, he is hard to pigeonhole: he moves easily between mass audience and art-house tastes, between settings and genres; his films, including 'Two Men and a Wardrobe', 'Cul de Sac', 'Rosemary?s Baby', 'The Pianist' and 'Oliver Twist', represent diverse characters and cinematic influences. Like a magpie, he?s interested in everything he encounters, but then easily discards his treasures and moves onward. Covering all Polanski?s films as director, this welcome book addresses the eclecticism, ambiguity and paradoxes of his cinema, while seeking out the common elements in his films. Ewa Mazierska examines the autobiographical effect of Polanski?s films, his characters and diverse narratives, and the place of absurdism, surrealism and the ?double life? of things in his cinema. She looks into the function of music, of religion, power, patriarchy and racism in the films, as well as Polanski?s literary adaptations and his use and subversion of film genres. Herself a Polish emigre, she uncovers Polanski's Polish roots and the extent of their influence on the cinema of this mercurial film maker, at large in the world.

Roman Polanski (born 1933) is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor, who stands as one of the most influential directors living today.

Roman Polanski is one of the great maverick figures of world cinema, with a long career starting in Poland with his short films of the 1950s and running through to the present with Oliver Twist. This collection highlights the bold and dazzling diversity of his work as well as recurrent themes and obsessions.