Roman Polanski: Interviews

Conversations With Filmmakers Series

by Paul Cronin (Editor)

Roman Polanski (b. 1933) arrived on the international scene in 1962 with his first feature film, Knife in the Water, and his face would be on the cover of Time magazine by the end of that year. His vibrant, disturbing, and often violent films--including the psychological thriller Rosemary's Baby, the film noir classic Chinatown, and the somber Holocaust drama The Pianist--have entertained and sometimes infuriated audiences. Stylistically unsettling and thematically varied, Polanski's films have established him as one of the most talented and controversial European filmmakers of his generation.

Polanski's life has been troubled. He survived the Krakow ghetto and the Holocaust, but his mother died at Auschwitz. His wife Sharon Tate was brutally murdered in 1968 by members of Charles Manson's cult. After years of success in the United States, he fled the country in 1978 when he was convicted for having sex with a minor. He hasn't returned to America since that time. In Roman Polanski: Interviews, the acclaimed director talks openly about how incidents in his life have and have not influenced his artistic vision.

This collection of interviews spans nearly forty years and comprises translations from French, German, and Spanish newspapers and magazines and transcripts of British and American television and radio appearances.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

Polanski is an intelligent interviewee, but as a book it's not very good. Weak interviewers obsessed with his biography rather than his filmmaking. Too much repetition in material, and far too much about Tess and Fearless Vampire Killers, while having almost nothing about The Tenant.

[اشکان نیری · Rating 3 out of 5]

برای کسی مثل من که عاشق پولانسکیه داشتن مجموعه‌ی مصاحبه‌هاش عالیه اما مصاحبه‌ها هیچ ترتیب به خصوصی نداره، یه مقدار هم ترجمه‌ش لنگ می‌زنه و روان نیست؛ به خصوص قسمتی رو که خود مترجم جدای از کتاب اصلی از روی وب‌سایت پولانسکی برداشته و ترجمه کرده. رومن پولانسکی دوست‌داشتنی به قول یکی از اهالی سینما اقیانوسیه که ادعا می‌کنه آب کم‌عمقیه.

[Raymond Parker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been a fan of Roman Polanski's work for some time-"Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" are two of the best American films ever made. So I know pretty much everything there is to know about Mr. Polanski's background. What was revealing about this collection of interviews is the omniscient confidence (bordering on arrogance)that he has as a filmmaker and overall storyteller. What I felt was missing was the candor that was prevalent in his autobiography "Polanski by Roman." This was obviously due in part to his being guarded in his interviews, but it left little insight into the imagination that was behind some of cinemas most classic films.

[Ian]

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