I hope, by that euphemistic phrase, that the author does not intend to be frivolous about the crime that occurred: this 13yo girl was, anally raped--with fairly substantial coercion--by Polanski. The records from the grand jury hearing are at TheSmokingGun; and they're quite unpleasant to read.

I like Polanski and his work. He's certainly "paid" for his crime quite substantially. The girl in question generously has offerred her pardon to him. But none of that changes the fact that he committed a VERY NASTY CRIME. For all sorts of reasons, it's wrong to minimize or forget that fact.

All joking aside, you must be a Democrat if you think a person who still enjoys the protection of courts he has fled the jurisdiction of (re: Vanity Fair being sued by Roman Polanski in a British court and testifying on CCTV because he would be extradited the moment he landed at Heathrow) has accepted academy awards in absentia, and still enjoys a wealthy lifestyle in a G8 country has "paid for his crime" of sexual assault.

His "payment" has been exclusion from the US for most of his adult life--and he surely wanted to be here to make films.

For the Greeks, banishment was a substantial and meaningful punishment for many crimes.

In any case, the gist of my post was to recall the crime and insist it not be forgotten. What's your beef with that?

Yes, it was a ghastly crime against a very young girl. I'd also like to emphasise that fact.

It's hard to tell from the review if this fact is glossed over in the show (hopefully not).

I, too, have read those transcripts of the trial and it is disturbing reading.

As far as I can tell, this girl was not at all a precocious Lolita-type but an impressionable young girl who was coerced to do some things that she did not understand at the time.

Eg, I guess she was coached before taking the stand, but she says he performed "cuddle-lingus" (something like that) on her. Clearly quite clueless, non?