Roman Polanski and His Rape Victim Reunite: A Powerful

Recently, Roman Polanski, accused of raping 13-year-old Samantha Geimer in 1977, met with his victim and took a photo together.

The image was posted on Instagram by Polanski’s wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, and was taken by Geimer’s husband.

In the interview with Le Point, both women described themselves as “kindred spirits” inextricably linked by Polanski and thought it was important to talk in “complete solidarity.”

Geimer said that what happened with Polanski was never a big problem for her, and she did not know it was illegal. She thought the situation was blown out of proportion and is still fine.

She believed that people should understand that Polanski had served his sentence, and the status became horrible after his extradition attempt in 2009.

The Swiss court ultimately rejected the US’s extradition request and released him. Even at the height of the #MeToo movement, Geimer urged the authorities to end the drawn-out case in 2017.

Polanski pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Geimer and fled to France from the US more than four decades ago.

He has continued to direct movies regularly to critical praise, but over the years, at least six other women had accused him of sexual abuse, with most of them saying the abuse happened when they were minors.

None of those allegations resulted in criminal charges, and through his attorneys, he denied any wrongdoing in those cases.

Nevertheless, the filmmaker was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and stripped of his directing Oscar for “The Pianist” in 2003.

Geimer also opened up about the case in her 2013 memoir, “The Girl: A Life in the Shadow of Roman Polanski,” in which she recounted her version of the alleged events and how she felt more wounded by the “victim industry”: the lawyers, judge, and journalists whom she felt sensationalized her case for their interests.

She reiterated that view with Seigner and said she could have been more optimistic about the media’s perspective changes. The meeting between Polanski and Geimer has drawn public attention and criticism.

Many people expressed disappointment and disbelief on social media, and some called for a boycott of Polanski’s films. However, others defended the meeting, saying that Geimer had the right to make her own decisions and that she had forgiven Polanski long ago.