Roman Polanski's birthday
On August 18, 1933, in Paris, in the family of the sculptor Mojżesz Liebling, a Polish Jew, and his wife Bula Katz, a Jew from Russia, a boy was born, who was named Raimund (in the French version - Roman) Thierry. Raimund Thierry spent the first four years of his life in Paris with his family. In 1937 the Liebling family moved to the Polish city of Krakow. More precisely, it returned, since Mojżesz Liebling left Krakow for Paris shortly before the birth of Roman.
The torment of hell, which the Liebling family endured during the Nazi occupation of Poland, deserves a separate publication and is partially described in the greatest film by Roman Polanski - the film "The Pianist". Suffice it to say that the parents of the future director and his sister Aneta were placed in different concentration camps. Roman's mother died in a concentration camp, his father and sister managed to survive, but they all lost each other for a long time. Roman himself was saved by a Polish woman, a Catholic, who passed him off as her son. But despite this, childhood memories settled in Roman's memory, how the Nazis used him as a target.
Shortly after the end of World War II, Roman and Mojżesz Lieblings found each other. True, by this time Mojżesz Liebling changed his name to Ryszard Polanski. Accordingly, the son also became Polanski. 12-year-old Roman, on the recommendation of his father, went to study at a technical school and at the same time began to actively participate in the work of children's television. Thanks to his participation in radio shows, Roman Polanski caught the eye of the young Polish director Andrzej Wajda, who invited Roman to star in his debut film "Pokolenie (A Generation)" (1954), and then gave a referral to study at the Film School in Lodz, which Wajda had graduated himself shortly before.
During his studies at the film school, Roman Polanski shot several highly successful short films, one of which - "Dwaj ludzie z szafą (Two Men and a Wardrobe)" (1958) received 5 international awards, including a bronze medal at the World Exhibition in Brussels. In 1962, three years after graduating from the film school, which by that time had become the name of the Leon Schiller State Higher School of Cinematography, Television and Theater, Roman Polanski shot his first feature film, "Nóz w wodzie (Knife in the Water)". This work infuriated the then leadership of socialist Poland. They say that the then leader of Poland, an ardent Stalinist and an ardent anti-Semite, Vladislav Gomulka threw an ashtray at the screen while watching this film. As a result, the film was banned from showing in Poland. Well, in the USSR, of course, too.
However, in Western countries the film "Nóz w wodzie (Knife in the Water)" was received with a bang. And then Roman Polanski went to his hometown - to Paris. In France, Roman Polanski was able to participate in the production of the film-almanac "Les plus belles escroqueries du monde (The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers)" as the director of one of the segments. Even from the short segment “La Rivière de Diamants, or Amsterdam” by Roman Polanski, some scenes were cut out in the final version (Polanski considered this a manifestation of xenophobia), but on the set he could get to know the screenwriter Gérard Brach and then still very young, 21-year-old Catherine Deneuve, who is in the same year starred in the famous "Les parapluies de Cherbourg (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg)". The fruit of the collaboration of this trio was the film "Repulsion", however, shot in 1965 in the UK.
In 1968, Roman Polanski met American film star Sharon Tate on the set of the "The Fearless Vampire Killers (Dance of the Vampires)". As a result of his marriage to Sharon Tate, Polanski moved to the United States, where very quickly the young native of socialist Poland was assigned to shoot the film "Rosemary's Baby". The success of this film for Roman Polanski was overshadowed by a terrible tragedy: in 1969, his pregnant wife of Roman Polanski and four of her friends were brutally mauled by members of the so-called "Manson Family". (I still remember the look on our English teacher's face when she recounted this news from foreign newspapers.)
After the tragedy, Roman Polanski left for Europe for several years and practically did not do directing. But in 1973 he returned to the United States to film "Chinatown". However, after a few years Polanski was forced to leave the United States again. Rather, he was not forced, but preferred flight to imprisonment, since he was accused of raping a minor. (To be honest, when I read Samantha Gailey's testimony records, I had the feeling that she was underage only for her age. In terms of sexual experience, she, at least, was not inferior to Polanski.)
To date, Roman Polanski's filmography includes 22 full-length feature films, not counting novels in almanacs and short films. 5 of these films were included in the Golden Thousand. Thanks to this indicator, Roman Polanski is included in the list of the 100 greatest directors of world cinema, compiled by FilmGourmand.
