Repulsion

Roman Polanski, French-Polish, 79 years old, Chinatown, Rosemary's Baby, Repulsion, The Pianist, Knife in the Water, Tess. The oldest director in Competition, Polanski hardly requires an introduction, whether you associate him first with his crafty, unnerving cinema or his infamous legal troubles. Born in Paris to Polish parents, he moved with family back to Poland shortly before the Second World War, narrowly escaping the Krakow Ghetto after the German occupation -- experience he drew upon in his 2002 Palme d'Or winner "The Pianist." In 1959, he graduated from the National Film School in Lodz, Poland, having already earned considerable attention for his student shorts; in 1962, he struck gold with his debut feature "Knife in the Water," an international hit that scooped an Oscar nomination. After a brief stint in Britain that produced one of his best films, Repulsion, Hollywood came calling in 1968 with "Rosemary's Baby"; he'd make only one more American studio film whilst dabbling in Europe, before statutory rape charges brought about his permanent exile from the US. Since then, his international career has alternated between very high highs ("Tess," "The Pianist") and some dismal lows (the notoriously expensive bomb "Pirates"), but 2010's "The Ghost Writer," premiered in the midst of his 2009 house arrest in Switzerland, kept his stock high going into the current (and his eighth) decade. "Venus in Fur" is his 21st.

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