Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired: Critic Reviews

A subtly intelligent and sharply argued documentary.

Using tons of footage and new interviews with the victim and key legal figures -- but not the subject himself -- director Marina Zenovich shows how Polanski's darker urges were matched on a moral level by others involved in the case.

She has achieved extraordinary access to the other still-living players in the case, and they all seem to be in agreement: Polanski is correct in saying the judge played with him as a cat might play with a mouse.

This is a superb picture, sharp, open-minded, wised-up and cinematically accomplished. I wonder if any man could've handled the Polanski enigma with the same ironic intelligence [Marina] Zenovich has.

Whether you can swallow that or not, the mesmerizing narrative recounts a media circus of unrivaled malignance.

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, a documentary by Marina Zenovich that is also a first-rate work of reportage, makes a forceful case that the whole truth of the matter was never heard in court and Polanski was more sinned against than sinning.

Though Marina Zenovich's film deals with the notorious case of the film director who pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old, the film's real subject is the California legal system turned upside down by celebrity and media pressure.

Some might confuse Zenovich's indictment on the judge as a cop-out in judging Polanski. But the facts remain. There's no further insight into the heinous crime. Nor is there a new judgment to be passed on the man who committed it. Anyone looking for new r

"Zenovich's film is a fair and skillful chronicling of the Roman Polanski case, and a study of how the circumstances of celebrity influence the carrying out of justice in the U.S. It's not an in-depth study of the filmmaker's psychology nor of how his lif

The film's verdict is that Polanski is too distinguished to persecute by placing him in a prison among, well, criminals. Wanted And Desired: A premeditated act of propaganda in the service of exoneration with a creative genius defense, instead of remorse.

A judiciously argued account with intriguing asides

While not apologising for his disgusting behaviour, the film puts Polanski's actions in the context of a turbulent life.

an essential entry in Hollywood's cultural chronicle

Mesmo tendo criado uma narrativa envolvente, coesa e impecavel a ponto de servir como base para os advogados de Polanski solicitarem o arquivamento do caso, este documentario foi ignorado pela Academia. Arre.

What makes Wanted and Desired riveting is that Zenovich balances this immorality play by interviewing nearly everyone involved and mixes it with perfectly culled archival footage.

This chronicle of Polanski's life, career and legal woes offers an engaging portrait of the artist.

It's the sort of complex story Polanski himself would have excelled at telling, if he weren't busy living it.

Marina Zenovich's documentary is that it fills in a lot of crucial details (including a few new ones), primarily about the rape and its aftermath.

Meticulously crafted and keenly thought out, the film also serves as a useful historical document. It illuminates its time period, delves into moral hypocrisy and shows the evolution of muck-raking celebrity journalism.

Roman Polanski (The Pianist, Rosemary's Baby, Chinatown) is unquestionably a great filmmaker, but as Marina Zenovich's documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired perhaps unintentionally demonstrates, he's also a creep.

With a subject like Roman Polanski, you don't really need to do much to capture audience interest. But maybe that's the reason Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired doesn't live up to its promise.

I found myself occasionally enthralled, mainly due to Polanski's haunted presence coming through, even in the form of an absent ghost.

The film walks a fine line between contempt for Polanski's crimes and sympathy for his trials and his screwed-up psyche, and it manages both...

The film leans a bit too heavily on the idea that Polanski was a high-living artist who was rejected by a puritanical America and embraced by an understanding Europe, but on balance, the film is a credible re-evaluation of a complex man.