Roman Polanski Review, by Justin Chang of Variety

The toxic influence of the media and the double-edged allure of celebrity form the pervasive themes of "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," a mesmerizing portrait of the director as acclaimed artist and tortured human being. But documaker Marina Zenovich goes even deeper in her thoroughly researched account of the notorious 1977 statutory rape case, pulling auds into the dense thicket of legal issues and sordid behavior -- not all of it Polanski's -- that led the director to flee to Europe. Picked up by HBO and the Weinstein Co., searing pic will be wanted and desired by discriminating auds, fests and broadcasters worldwide.

On Feb. 1, 1978, Polanski boarded a plane from Los Angeles to France (where he remains to this day), eluding sentencing after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. Pic recounts the widely reported details of that 1977 episode, in which a magazine photo shoot at Jack Nicholson's home on Mulholland Drive ended with Polanski allegedly administering champagne and quaaludes to 13-year-old Samantha Gailey before assaulting her.

Beautifully structured pic lays out the concrete facts with methodical text scrolls, but complicates the viewer's perception of the case with chilling, contrasting snippets of testimony from Polanski and Gailey herself. And without lightening Polanski's burden of responsibility, Zenovich shows how a rabid press corps and an unfathomably corrupt judge conspired to thwart the case's proper outcome.

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Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired