PARIS - The"unconditional support" Roman Polanski has enjoyed from the French film establishment seems to be crumbling after a new rape claim against the controversial director.
Valentine Monnier claimed Polanski tried to make her swallow a pill when he pounced on her after they had gone skiing in Gstaad.Monnier said she felt impelled to speak out after Polanski appeared to compare himself to the hero of his new film, Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish officer wrongly persecuted as a spy by French army at the turn of the 20th century.
French public radio - one of the film's promotional partners - also shelved another popular show on Monday that featured a pre-recorded interview with Louis Garrel, who plays Dreyfus in the film. It said it is considering changing its rules so that"every member convicted of a sex crime would be expelled and any under police investigation would be suspended."
Haenel is so far the only star to speak out in support of Monnier."I believe her. Her stand is all the more courageous because her aggressor is powerful," she said. But Samantha Geimer, whom Polanski admitted raping in Jack Nicholson's LA home two years after the alleged rape in Switzerland, criticised Monnier for not speaking out earlier.