Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Roman Polanski, right, and his attorney Douglas Dalton in court in 1977.

Roman Polanski, who hasn't set foot in Britain since 1978 for fear of extradition, was arrested yesterday in Zurich by the Swiss police for an assault he pleaded guilty to in 1977. The irony is that such an event, the kind he has dreaded for 32 years, should take place in a country where he owns a chalet and spends many weeks every year. The blow came unexpectedly; the news was a shock to many.

A shock, not because the man is innocent (the case is summarised here) but because since last year, thanks to a remarkable American documentary by investigative film-maker Marina Zenovich called Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, we now know that Roman Polanski was treated unfairly by the judge Laurence Rittenband and that he was the victim of gross misconduct from the Los Angeles court. Even the victim's lawyer implies at the end of the documentary that he would have done the same that Polanski did – jump bail and take the first plane to Paris to avoid a lengthier prison sentence. One detail of importance: by the time he fled the US, he had already served a short time in prison.

It is precisely in the light of the new evidence revealed by this documentary that Roman Polanski's lawyers asked the US justice department a few months ago for the case to be closed. While recognising the presence of new elements in the dossier and acknowledging the "substantial misconduct " of Judge Rittenband, the Los Angeles court in charge of the dossier declared the case couldn't be closed while Polanski was still technically a fugitive. That decision is still being appealed by Polanski's lawyers as I write.

It's in this context, then, that it's shocking to many cinephiles and to the French in particular that the 76-year-old Polanski should be arrested. Since yesterday, reactions in favour of the film director have poured forth from across the political and cultural spectrum, including of course that of the culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand, who did not mince his words. He labelled the arrest "senseless" and "outrageous" nature of such arrest which comes from the "darker side of America, the one that scares us all." The Cannes film festival is spearheading a campaign to free Polanski and the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner has contacted US secretary of state Hilary Clinton to ask for a presidential pardon. "We're calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation," the American producer Harvey Weinstein said. Sources close to Weinstein said the mogul would reach out to Hollywood to lobby against any move to bring Polanski to the US, where he could face up to 50 years in jail.

There is a feeling in France that the US justice department is acting out some kind of prudish revenge against a great talent who never abided by American rules even when he was the most celebrated director in Hollywood.

- Agnès Poirier guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 September 2009 15.16 BST