French-Polish director Roman Polanski poses with actress Emmanuelle Seigner during a photocall for his latest film, 'Based on a True Story' at the Cinematheque in Paris. French feminists will stage a protest against Polanski, who was accused of a string of sexual assaults several years ago. October 30, 2017 X17online.com USA ONLY (X17online.com)
Roman Polanski’s wife, actress Emmanuelle Seigner, has rejected an invitation to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences after the same organization kicked her husband out just 2 months ago.
Seigner, who has been married to Polanski since 1989, wrote an open letter to the Academy printed in the French publication, Le Journal du Dimanche. In it, she rejects the offer to join noting that it is “one insult too many.”
“The Academy probably thinks I am enough of a spineless, social climbing actress that I would forget that I have been married for the past 29 years to one of the world’s greatest directors,” she wrote. “I love him, he is my husband and the father of my children. He has been cast out like a pariah. Yet these same nameless academicians think that I should 'mount the steps of glory' behind his back? The insufferable hypocrisy! This proposal is one insult too many. I cannot remain silent any longer. You offend me whilst claiming to want to protect women!”
As previously reported, Polanski was kicked out of the Academy in May along with Bill Cosby as part of the organization’s push to enforce its code of conduct, which it believes both men violated. Polanski fled to France while facing jail time over a plea deal that saw him plead guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl in 1978.
However, as Seigner’s note acknowledges, the Academy turned a blind eye to this fact for years, even giving Polanski an Oscar for directing in 2003 for “The Pianist.”
“Of course, artists are not exempt from justice,” Seigner wrote. “But it should be the same justice that exists for all, not a justice that goes back on its word and violates its own principles. That was the case in Los Angeles in 1977, when his first confinement in prison was supposed to be his punishment. Today, Roman has served more than the maximum sentence for the offence committed.”
The move to invite Seigner comes as the Academy made a push to invite 928 new members in an effort to expand diversity, according to Variety. In her open letter, she notes that a push toward feminism is a good thing, but that she believes her husband has been creating roles for women in Hollywood for years and simply cannot allow herself to accept an invitation after the way Polanski was treated in May.
“As for the members of the Academy, I have only one thing to say to them,” she concluded. “This is one woman you won’t have.”
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