Valentine Monnier, a former French model, accused Roman Polanski, whose movie on 19th century French artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus is set to premiere next week, of assaulting her at a Swiss ski resort in 1975, almost 45 years ago, Le Parisien reported.
The actress said the Oscar-winning director assaulted and raped her when she stayed at Polanski’s chalet in Gstaad. She was 18 at the time of the alleged incident.
“I had no links with him, neither personal nor professional, and hardly knew him,” the ex-model told Le Parisien, claiming the incident was “extremely violent.”
“He beat me until I surrendered and then raped me, making me do all sorts of things,” she stated.
The model said she later told two women about the incident; her best friend Isabelle and another who would become a long term Polanski girlfriend, The Times of Israel reported. Both women were contacted by Le Parisien and confirmed Monnier telling them about the event.
Monnier’s story is yet another in a row of allegations against the 86-year-old director. Polanski has been accused of rape on at least three occasions: in 2010, and twice in 2017. With each allegation, the date reaches further back, as they supposedly happened in the years 1983, 1973 and 1972, correspondingly.
Polanski’s s lawyer, Herve Temime, said the director “firmly denies all accusations of rape,” adding that the allegations “which date back 45 years have never been reported to judicial authorities.”
Polanski, creator of “Rosemary’s Baby” and “Chinatown,” admitted statutory rape in 1977 and spent 48 days in custody to undergo psychiatric evaluation before being released, according to The Times of Israel. One year later, convinced that a judge was about to scrap his plea deal, Polanski fled to France and remained, evading repeated US attempts to have him extradited.
Following the 2017 scandal which resulted in film producer Harvey Weinstein being charged with numerous rapes, many male celebrities were accused of rape, including actor Kevin Spacey, who became a pariah in entertainment industry, despite that all charges against him were dropped in July 2019. Polanski’s movie ‘J'accuse’, alternatively titled ‘An Officer and a Spy,’ is set to hit the theatres on 13 November in France and 21 November in Italy. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival on 30 August this year.
