French court acquits director Roman Polanski of defaming British actress
Charlotte Lewis sued the Franco-Polish director after he said her accusation of rape against him was a ‘heinous lie’
PARIS, France — A French court on Tuesday acquitted film director Roman Polanski of defaming British actress Charlotte Lewis after she accused him of raping her when she was a teenager.
Lewis, 56, alleged in 2010 that the Franco-Polish director “sexually abused me in the worst possible way when I was just 16 years old,” referring to an incident in 1983 in Paris during a casting session for his film “Pirates,” which she starred in. The film was released in 1986.
She sued for defamation after Polanski called her allegations a “heinous lie” in a 2019 interview with Paris Match magazine.
Paris Match also wrote that Polanski cited a quote attributed to Lewis in a 1999 interview she gave to the News of the World, in which she allegedly remarked, “I wanted to be his mistress…I probably desired him more than he did me.”
Lewis disputed the quote’s accuracy.
Stuart White, who wrote the News of the World article was also present in court.
“The interview I gave to Stuart White was not the interview that was in the newspaper,” Lewis said, adding she discovered the article only years later.
White said he interviewed Lewis twice after the paper paid 30,000 pounds ($38,000 at today’s rates) for exclusive rights.
He insisted she had agreed to a “vice girl” angle to the 1999 story but said he could not remember if she had asked to approve the text before it was published.
Polanski, 90, was not in court for the verdict, but his lawyer, Delphine Meillet, hailed the acquittal as “an important day for free speech and for defense rights. Today a court said, “Yes, one can challenge accusations,” she said.
Lewis said she would appeal the verdict.
“I feel sad and let down. It’s a sad day for women and men. But it’s not over. We are going to appeal,” a tearful Lewis said.
The Polanski verdict came as this year’s Cannes Film Festival gets under way amid speculation about potentially explosive #MeToo allegations against a string of actors and directors.
Polanski, director of classic films including “Chinatown,” “Rosemary’s Baby,” “The Pianist” and “Carnage,” fled California for Europe in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl but before being formally sentenced.
Switzerland, France and Poland have refused to extradite Polanski to the US.
After the #MeToo movement gained global traction in 2017 following sexual abuse allegations against US film producer Harvey Weinstein, several women alleged that Polanski had sexually assaulted them as teenagers.
Polanski has consistently denied the allegations which never went to trial, but he has since found it hard to secure global distribution deals for his movies, even if actors are still lining up to work with him.
In 2020, Polanski won best directing for his film “An Officer and a Spy” at the Cesars, prompting several women in the audience walking out in protest at honoring a man facing rape accusations.
