Book Review: F.X. Feeney’s Roman Polanski: The Complete Films

reviewed by j.d. lafrance

“Above everything else, cinema is atmosphere.” – Roman Polanski

Born in 1933, Roman Polanski has been responsible for directing several cinematic masterpieces (Repulsion, Rosemary’s Baby and Chinatown) and an overall body of work that even at its low points (Pirates) is always interesting to watch. His films are often darkly humorous and examine the human condition with unflinching honesty, whether it is the notion of madness as in Repulsion (1965) or sexual expression as in Bitter Moon (1992). F.X. Feeney’s book (edited by Paul Duncan) is divided into sections of the man’s life, first covering his childhood and how the effects of World War II and the death of his mother at the hands of Nazis would inform films like The Pianist (2002).

From there, Feeney goes on to document Polanski’s evolution as a filmmaker, from his student films to feature-length efforts up to and including Oliver Twist (2005). The author does a fairly decent job providing examples of how the director’s film style developed over the years but one wishes for more detail in some parts. For example, in discussing The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967) Feeney alludes to the U.S. version being “shredded” and “butchered” by MGM executive Martin Ransohoff but fails to say what was cut and why.

While Feeney did not have access to Polanski, he did have access to the filmmaker’s archives and includes numerous stills, behind the scenes photographs and storyboards. The author touches upon the director’s life, like the death of his wife, Sharon Tate, and his legal troubles being convicted for having sex with a minor, but does not dwell on it for long in favor of analysis of the movies.

Feeney obviously admires Polanski’s body of work, even managing to defend a stinker like What? (1973). “Whatever its defects, What? is cheerful and unpretentious, less a film than a pastry, a sweet thing of dubious nutritional value designed to be consumed with lust.” He is unable to defend Pirates (1986), describing it as “weakly plotted and tedious,” but does suggest that Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) might have been influenced by Polanski’s film. “One cannot help feeling its makers committed Pirates to memory and asked themselves, ‘How can we steal everything that’s great about this, but turn it into a hit.?’” Passages like this tend to read like a case of sour grapes in that Polanski has been unable to enjoy any kind of mainstream success ever since the heady days of Chinatown (1974), and it was not until The Pianist that he was able to enjoy the same kind of recognition on a mainstream level.

That being said, it is nice to see Feeney champion underrated efforts like Frantic (1988) and The Ninth Gate (1999), it is just a shame that he does not dwell on them in more detail. The absence of production stories makes one hungry for more. Fans of the director will want to pick up this book for its wealth of photos – not just the aforementioned examples but also rare pictures of Polanski growing up and his stint in film school. This book is by no means an exhaustive, in-depth study of Polanski or his films but instead is a decent primer for those interested in becoming familiar with his work.

{www.taschen.com}