Keen On

Is the convicted sex criminal Roman Polanski worth defending? Particularly in the context of “An Officer and a Spy”, his vaguely autobiographical 2019 movie about the Dreyfus case, the first Polanski film in a decade to be shown in the United States. Writing in Liberties Quarterly, Charles Taylor answers yes, intelligently making the case that we should concentrate on evaluating Polanski’s art rather than his crimes. But I wonder about the wisdom of Polanski making a film about, of all things, the Dreyfus Affair - the celebrated 19th century French case of the persecution of an innocent Jewish military officer. Taylor’s Liberties piece is entitled “Polanski’s Nation of Pain” in reference to the manifold tragedies of the filmmaker’s life. But there’s also the unimaginable pain Roman Polanski has inflicted on any number of innocent women and girls. No, I don’t think I’ll be paying to see “An Officer and a Spy”. Not even if it’s a good movie. 1. The Separation Dilemma Can we truly separate art from artist? Taylo