Roman Polanski's ‘An Officer and a Spy' Praised by Europeans, but Scolded by U.S. Critics

Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy” drew the ire of American critics this past Friday at its Venice premiere.

“An Officer and a Spy” tells the true story of the Captain Dreyfus case, an embarrassment of justice that shook France to its core. Dreyfus, who was given the death penalty due to the supposed “crimes” he was accused of, was actually an innocent man. As mentioned here months ago, the film is Polanski trying to make parallels between the innocent man and himself, which has not pleased the #MeToo movement’s most vocal backers.

The 86-year-old, a fugitive from the US since he was convicted for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old in 1978, seems to have decided to tell a story that he wants to purposely parallel with his own troubles with the law.

French, Spanish and Italian reviews were favorable to Poalnski’s film, but the U.S. trades, of course, didn’t like it. No surprise. THR called it “a beautifully told story that feels a bit soulless,” whereas Variety film critic Owen Gleiberman described “An Officer and A Spy” as “obscene,” adding that the film is “grandly mounted” but “still feels lacking, maybe because Polanski thinks it’s about him.” Gleiberman went to say that “the first half of the movie sucks you right in, but after a while it starts to play like the dramatized version of a Wikipedia entry.”

IndieWire’s David Ehrlich also hated the movie [review]

However, The Guardian’s Xan Brooks raved about the film, calling it “handsome and involving,’ Whereas, Screendaily wrote “Polanski’s intelligent, unfussy approach constantly elevates the straightforward treatment.”

There is currently no release date for Polanski’s film in the U.S. but on the European side it has been bought for a slew of markets which include France, Spain, Sweden, Poland, and Italy.

View fullsize

Polanski’s victim Samantha Geimer has said she has forgiven Polanski and accepted a private apology. She has also mentioned that the Academy banning him is an “ugly and cruel" act, and that Hollywood elites are ‘douchebags'

Geimer tweeted just yesterday about the Venice backlash on Polanski:

No, it's not the perfect headline. Using my assault as a teenager 42 YEARS ago, failing to mention the judicial misconduct that has left me to deal with these vulgar tweets, and then using me shit on a man who should be allowed to do his work, is not perfect, it is abusive to ME https://t.co/IDdj8U0fQW

— Samantha Jane Geimer (@sjgeimer) August 31, 2019