In 2019, Roman Polanski premiered “An Officer and a Spy,” one of the finest films of his career. It won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and, a few months later, received 12 César Award nominations in France, ultimately earning Polanski the Best Director award. Yet, despite these accolades, and due to the filmmaker’s controversies, the film still hadn’t been theatrically released in the US.
Now, six years later, “An Officer and a Spy” will finally see the light of day in the US as the film has set up an August 8 theatrical debut at NYC’s Film Forum. It will be a two week limited engagement.
An Officer and a Spy, which dramatizes the real-life Dreyfus Affair in late 19h-century France, is the real deal. Polanski crafted the film with surgical precision—only a true master could create something so atmospherically rich and texturally nuanced.
Shot with a poet’s eye by longtime Polanski collaborator Pawel Edelman, the film’s visuals are gorgeously composed and naturally lit. “An Officer and a Spy” functions as a cautionary tale about due process, and it resonates because the 19th-century authoritarian world it depicts feels disturbingly similar to our own. It’s a modern-day parable about the dangers of groupthink and mob justice.
Polanski has faced decades of controversy due to a 1977 case in which he pled guilty to unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl and fled the U.S. before sentencing. Though he continued making acclaimed films, including “The Pianist,” his legal case and flight from justice have led to ongoing boycotts and his blacklisting.
American distributors have repeatedly declined invitations to screen the film at industry markets. Howard Cohen of Roadside Attractions previously commented:
I think we would consider it, though I’m not even sure how I personally feel. People have been releasing his films for years. Now, we are looking at it through a different lens—with good reason. We have to search our souls if it’s the right thing to do. What does it mean to release this movie? I don’t think that’s a settled question even in my mind.
And so, despite “An Officer and a Spy” winning major awards in Venice and Paris and topping critics’ polls across Europe, it remains virtually unseen by American audiences. The censoring of art should have no place in a free society—yet it persists. Kudos to the Film Forum for taking the risk in finally screening this great film.