Roman Polanski Always Thrived in France, But Now Even His Adopted Country is Turning On Him (Variety)

Cancel culture comes to France. They rejected Me Too a few years back.

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/france-falls-out-of-love-with-roman-polanski-1235272794/

Despite the scandal and ongoing legal issues, the veteran auteur has flourished as a filmmaker in his adopted country, celebrated as a lifelong member of France’s illustrious Academie des Beaux Arts (Academy of Fine Arts) and showered with a half-dozen César Awards, the latest three of which, including best director, are for his 2019 drama “.”

But things are changing. The director’s latest César win, combined with more recent allegations of sexual misconduct, sparked outrage from French feminist groups and led to the 21-member board of the organization that oversees the Césars to resign en masse. Polanski has denied the more recent misconduct allegations.

Even as the blowback intensified, “Officer and a Spy” became a massive hit in France, where it grossed more than $11 million.

Barbareschi, who also produced “Officer and a Spy,” says it’s been tough to finance the “Palace” which is an Italian, Swiss and Polish co-production between his Eliseo Multimedia and RAI Cinema, Poland’s Lucky BOB and Switzerland’s CAB. Some other investors disappeared after the film started shooting.

But he didn’t expect France to shut Polanski out, and still hopes the French industry will embrace the film.

“I managed to mount the production over the course of a year without France since France didn’t want to invest a Euro on Polanski,” Barbareschi says. “This really wounded me.”

The producer adds, “If this film doesn’t get released in France, it’s a crime.”