Dark vision of Oscar-winning cinematic genius

Published on Sunday 27 September 2009 23:18

ROMAN Polanski's film-making career began in Poland, where his debut feature, Knife in the Water, garnered an Oscar nomination in 1964 for best foreign language film.

The recognition was his passport to Hollywood, and he quickly won admirers with his dark cinematic visions, first with Repulsion (pictured), his study of a woman terrified by sex who becomes a psychotic murderer, then with Cul de Sac, now regarded as an absurdist masterpiece.

Box office success arrived in 1968 with Rosemary's Baby, featuring Mia Farrow as a woman who dreams she is carrying the devil's child. Eight years later, he directed another American classic, Chinatown, starring Jack Nicholson.

In recent years, he sought to combine arthouse projects such as Bitter Moon and Death and the Maiden with major Hollywood productions like Ninth Gate and Frantic.

His Oscar for directing the 2002 film The Pianist was collected by Harrison Ford. The story of a virtuoso's escape from a Warsaw ghetto during the Second World War also won the Palme D'Or award at Cannes.

His current project is an adaptation of British author Robert Harris's The Ghost, which is based loosely on the career of Tony Blair. The film, starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan, finished shooting earlier this year and is due for release in February.