Though his personal tragedies and demons have sometimes overshadowed his work, there’s no denying the impact Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski has had on cinema.
Born in 1933 in Paris and raised in Poland, Polanski’s childhood was marked by tragedy when he was separated from his parents during the Holocaust. As a child, he escaped the Krakow ghetto after his mother was killed in an Auschwitz gas chamber. When the war ended, he was reunited with his father and returned home.
He turned to filmmaking as a student, making his directorial debut with the international hit “Knife in the Water” (1962), which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. His followup, the psychological thriller “Repulsion” (1965), was an even bigger hit, and he was soon drafted by Hollywood to direct the occult horror film “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968), which earned him a Best Adapted Screenplay bid.
It was during this time that he married Sharon Tate, an actress who appeared in his comedy “The Fearless Vampire Killers” (1967). In August 1969, Polanski was visiting in Europe when Tate, pregnant with their child, was murdered by the Manson Family, along with houseguests Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger and Wojciech Frykowski, as well as Steven Parent, who had been visiting housekeeper William Garretson. (The murders were partly used as inspiration for Quentin Tarantino‘s film “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.”)
Polanski stayed in Europe following the murders, directing the Shakespeare adaptation “Macbeth” (1971), which drew unmistakable parallels to the heinous crimes. He returned to Hollywood to helm the grim, twisty neo-noir “Chinatown” (1974), for which he earned an Oscar nomination as Best Director.
It was shortly thereafter that Polanski was accused of sexually assaulting 13-year-old Samantha Gailey, who was modeling for him during a “Vogue” photo shoot. Polanski plead not guilty, later agreeing to take a plea agreement in exchange for a lighter sentence. However, news that the case’s judge, Laurence J. Rittenband, was planning to ignore the deal caused him to flee to Europe, where he has been ever since.
Despite the controversy, Polanski continued to direct films, earning an Academy Award nomination for “Tess” (1980), adapted by a Thomas Hardy novel given to him by Tate. He later helmed “The Pianist” (2002), a biographical Holocaust drama that called upon many of his own experiences during the period. Though Martin Scorsese (“Gangs of New York”) and Rob Marshall (“Chicago”) were the heavy Oscar favorites, Polanski upset with a victory for Best Director, which was later presented to him in Europe by Harrison Ford, who announced his victory on the telecast.
In addition to his Oscar success, Polanski won the Golden Globe for “Chinatown,” which also brought him a BAFTA prize. He earned additional BAFTAs in Best Director and Best Film for “The Pianist,” for which he also received the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Tour our photo gallery of Polanski’s 15 greatest films, including some of the titles listed above, as well as “Cul-de-Sac” (1966), “The Tenant” (1976), “The Ghost Writer” (2010) and more.
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15. CARNAGE (2011)
Image Credit: Sbs Prods./Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Yasmina Reza and Roman Polanski, based on Reza’s play. Starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly.
Though it struggles to escape its stage roots, “Carnage” is a fascinating chamber piece about the metaphorical disintegration of society, as seen through the microcosm of two upper-class couples. It all starts when Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly) invite Nancy and Alan Cowan (Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz) to their apartment for a cordial meeting about a schoolyard fight between their two kids. What begins as a polite encounter soon devolves into childish games as the parents try to get back at each other. Foster and Winslet earned lead acting Golden Globe nominations for their performances.
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14. BITTER MOON (1994)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Roman Polanski, Gerard Brach and John Brownjohn, story by Jeff Gross, based on the novel by Pascal Bruckner. Starring Peter Coyote, Emmanuelle Seigner, Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Victor Banerjee.
European critics scoffed at “Bitter Moon” when it opened in 1992, slamming it as an overindulgent, messy work from one of cinema’s masters. But stateside critics were more forgiving when it found its way to American screens two years later. While traveling aboard a cruise ship, a British couple (Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas) meet a beautiful French woman (Emmanuelle Seigner) and her wheelchair-bound American husband (Peter Coyote). As Coyote tells Grant the story of how he met his mysterious wife, the young man finds himself increasingly drawn to her, although given what he’s told, he should probably stay away.
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13. DEATH AND THE MAIDEN (1994)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Ariel Dorfman and Rafael Yglesias, based on the play by Dorman. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson.
From his debut feature “Knife in the Water,” Polanski has shown an affinity for creating tension and drama in contained environments. Perhaps that’s why he does so well when adapting stage plays to the screen, which was certainly the case with “Death and the Maiden.” It all takes place in one house with a storm raging outside. Sigourney Weaver stars as a housewife living with her husband (Stuart Wilson) in South Africa. One night, a stranger (Ben Kingsley) comes to the door, and she’s convinced he’s the man who once held her captive and tortured her for weeks. She ties him up, and he must convince her otherwise before she kills him.
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12. FRANTIC (1988)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Written by Roman Polanski, Gerard Brach and Robert Towne. Starring Harrison Ford, Betty Buckley, John Majoney, Emmanuelle Seigner.
“Frantic” was a comeback of sorts for Polanski. After the disastrously ill-conceived “Pirates” (which cast Walter Matthau as a swashbuckler), he returned to his roots, creating a tightly-wound psychological thriller that evokes the kinds of films that made him famous. Harrison Ford stars as a San Francisco doctor traveling to Paris to give a lecture at a medical conference. His wife (Betty Buckley) picks up the wrong suitcase from the airport, and the next day, he emerges from the shower to find she’s vanished. As he searches for her, Ford finds himself entangled in a web of espionage, drug smuggling and international terrorism.
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11. THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS (1967)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Written by Roman Polanski and Gerard Brach. Starring Jack MacGowran, Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, Alfie Bass, Ferdy Mayne.
Polanski dipped his toes into comedy to middling success (the less said about the aptly-titled “What?,” the better). Not only is “The Fearless Vampire Killers” one of his better funny efforts, but it also holds a sad place in movie history as being the film where the director fell in love with his future wife, the doomed Sharon Tate. It centers on a famed professor (Jack MacGowran) and his bumbling assistant (Polanski) as they travel around Transylvania killing bloodsuckers, eventually saving a distressed damsel (Tate). Though its sense of humor might not be to everyone’s liking, others will sink their teeth into its mix of horror and slapstick.
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10. CUL-DE-SAC (1966)
Image Credit: Compton-Tekli/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Written by Roman Polanski and Gerard Brach. Starring Donald Pleasence, Francoise Dorleac, Lionel Stander, Jack MacGowran, Iain Quarrier.
“Cul-de-Sac” is one of Polanski’s best macabre comedies, a delightfully dark battle of wills between some truly eccentric individuals. Lionel Stander stars as Dickie, an American gangster who finds himself stranded at an isolated British castle while on the run. He barges in to find the reclusive George (Donald Pleasence) and his beautiful French wife Teresa (Francoise Dorleac, who died in a car crash shortly after this film’s release). What follows is an hilarious and horrific game of sexual and psychological one-ups-manship between the criminal and the couple, and Polanski delights in constantly skewing our expectations for what will come next.
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9. THE GHOST WRITER (2010)
Image Credit: Snap Stills/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Robert Harris and Roman Polanski, based on the novel ‘The Ghost’ by Robert Harris. Starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams, Tom Wilkinson, Timothy Hutton, Jon Bernthal, Tim Preece, Robert Pugh, David Rintoul, Eli Wallach.
With “The Ghost Writer,” the then 77-year-old Polanski proved he could still craft a crackling thriller with the energy and verve of directors half his age. It’s wonderfully old fashioned in the best sense, a Hitchcockian mystery about a ghost writer (Ewan McGregor) hired to punch up the memoirs of an esteemed former British Prime Minister (Pierce Brosnan) after the previous author dies. As McGregor delves into research, he uncovers secrets that could put his own life at danger. In adapting Robert Harris’s bestseller, Polanski harkens back to the types of films he’s always excelled at: tense, darkly funny stories filled with intrigue and surprise.
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8. THE TENANT (1976)
Image Credit: Snap/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Gerard Brach and Roman Polanski, based on the novel by Roland Topor. Starring Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Jo Van Fleet, Rufus, Shelley Winters.
One has to wonder what horrors Polanski experienced while looking for a place to live, given the number of movies he’s made set inside a haunted apartment. In “The Tenant,” Polanski himself stars as a meek bureaucrat who moves into a French flat once occupied by a young woman who attempted suicide. As the landlord and neighbors continue to harass him, he begins to believe they want him to kill himself, sending him down a dangerous rabbit hole of suspicion and paranoia. Savaged by critics when it was first released, the film has since gained cult status from fans of the directors more bizarre, macabre efforts.
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7. TESS (1980)
Image Credit: Renn/Burrill/Sfp/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Gerard Brach, John Brownjohn and Roman Polanski, based on the novel ‘Tess of the d’Urbervilles’ by Thomas Hardy. Starring Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin.
Polanski directed “Tess” as a tribute to his late wife, Sharon Tate, who gave him a copy of Thomas Hardy’s book in the hopes that he would turn it into a movie. It’s a beautifully mounted epic, with Oscar-winning cinematography, costumes and art direction meticulously recreating Victorian era Wessex. Nastassja Kinski is mesmerizing as the title heroin, a shy peasant whose father (John Collin) sends her to the home of some aristocrats in the hope that they’re distantly related, setting in motion a tale of romance, social class and heartbreak. The film earned additional Academy Award bids for Polanski in Best Director, Best Picture and Best Score.
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6. THE PIANIST (2002)
Image Credit: Guy Ferrandis/Focus Features/Studio Canal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Ronald Harwood, based on the book by Wladyslaw Szpilman. Starring Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Michal Zebrowski.
It’s possible that Polanski never made a movie as close to his own life as “The Pianist.” In calling upon his own memories of escaping from Krakow during the Holocaust, the director infuses this biographical drama about pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman’s (Adrien Brody) own struggles during the period with an authenticity that’s almost painful to watch. Yet in crafting a story of survival in the face of unbearable suffering, he summons amazing courage and empathy. In a stunning surprise, the film brought Polanski an Oscar for Best Director, winning additional prizes for Brody in Best Actor and for Ronald Harwood’s adapted screenplay.
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5. MACBETH (1971)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Roman Polanski and Kenneth Tynan, based on the play by William Shakespeare. Starring Jon Finch, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw, Terence Bayler.
In adapting one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays to the screen, Polanski draws unmistakable parallels to the brutal murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, by the Manson Family, adding an eerie sense of urgency to the classic text. Co-adapted with British theater critic Kenneth Tynan, it’s a grim and unrelenting retelling of the story of Macbeth (Jon Finch), a medieval Scottish warrior who conspires with his conniving wife (Francesca Annis) to take the throne from the unsuspecting King, leading to his own tragic downfall. Filled with haunting images and disturbing violence, this is definitely not your high school Shakespeare production.
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4. KNIFE IN THE WATER (1962)
Image Credit: Film Polski/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Written by Roman Polanski, Jakub Goldberg and Jerzy Skolimowski. Starring Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz.
Polanski emerged fully formed in his debut feature, a sweat-inducing thriller that takes a simple premise and uses it as a way to explore sexuality, anger and paranoia. Leon Niemczyk and Jolanta Umecka star as a middle-aged couple on their way to a yacht trip. On the road they encounter a handsome young hitchhiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz), and invite him out to the lake with them. When Niemczyk senses his wife is attracted to Malanowicz, their competition turns deadly. The director does an expert job of building tension as the space becomes more and more confined. “Knife in the Water” earned an Oscar bid in Best Foreign Language Film.
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3. REPULSION (1965)
Image Credit: Snap/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Screenplay by Roman Polanski, Gerard Brach and David Stone, story by Polanski and Brach. Starring Catherine Deneuve, Yvonne Furneaux, Ian Hendry, John Fraser.
In his English language debut, Polanski delivered on the promise of “Knife in the Water” with another chilling psychological horror film. Catherine Deneuve is mesmerizing as Carol, a young Belgian woman sickened by sex who’s left alone in a London flat by her traveling sister (Yvonne Furneaux). As she withdraws from society, it becomes clear that the apartment might be haunted. When she can’t decipher between what’s real and what’s imagined, she quickly begins to unravel. “Repulsion” keeps us guessing as to whether the horrors are authentic or a product of Carol’s mind, placing us squarely in the frayed psyche of its lead character.
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2. ROSEMARY’S BABY (1968)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on the novel by Ira Levin. Starring Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy.
Having firmly established himself as a major European talent, Polanski came to Hollywood to horrify American audiences with this occult thriller. Based on the novel by Ira Levin, “Rosemary’s Baby” stars Mia Farrow as a young housewife who moves into a decrepit apartment with her actor husband (John Cassavetes). When she becomes pregnant, the odd behavior by her spouse and elderly neighbors (Sidney Blackmer and Ruth Gordon in an Oscar-winning turn) lead her to believe there are satanic designs on her expectant baby. The box office smash brought Polanski an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
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1. CHINATOWN (1974)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Roman Polanski. Written by Robert Towne. Starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Hillerman, Perry Lopez, Burt Young, John Huston.
At once a tribute to and a reinvention of film noir, “Chinatown” continues to puzzle and entice us with its twisty plot and unsettling themes. Jack Nicholson stars as J.J. Gittes, a private detective in 1930s Los Angeles ensnared in a web of intrigue involving water and power. Faye Dunaway is Evelyn Mulwray, whose husband is murdered in a scheme involving her monstrous, land-grabbing father (John Huston), who harbors a sinister secret about their relationship. Things wrap up with a grim finale that shows heroes don’t always win in the end. Robert Towne won an Oscar for his novelistic screenplay, while Polanski competed in Best Director.
