Roman Polanski - All His Films Ranked - Part Two

Short Biography:

Continuing the countdown of Roman Polanski’s filmography, ranked from worst to best…

Here is a rundown of his movies, with the score based on the average from IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes (public votes only) and Letterboxd, from lowest ranked to highest:

11 – Macbeth (1971)

IMDb:

7.4

RT Users:

7.3

Letterboxd:

7.32

7.34

Drama, War

Top Billed Cast:

Jon Finch, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw, John Stride, Terence Bayler

SYNOPSIS:

Directed by Roman Polanski, Proud Macbeth (Jon Finch) and his power-mad wife (Francesca Annis) plot to murder King Duncan (Nicholas Selby) and usurp the throne of Scotland, despite the increasing suspicions of Macbeth’s rival, Macduff (Terence Baylor), and his once-loyal friend Banquo (Martin Shaw). Roman Polanski directed this violent and sexualized revision of William Shakespeare’s tragedy of madness and political intrigue, financed by executive producer Hugh Hefner, publisher of Playboy magazine.

10 – Bitter Moon (1992)

IMDb:

7.2

RT Users:

8.0

Letterboxd:

7.18

7.46

Drama, Romance, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Peter Coyote, Victor Banerjee, Patrick Albenque

SYNOPSIS:

A cool married couple strike up an unlikely friendship on a cruise liner with wheelchair-bound Peter Coyote, a dissolute writer who takes it upon himself to teach Grant the secrets of the erotic arts so that he can satisfy both Scott-Thomas and Coyote’s wife, Emmanuelle Seigner.

9 – An Officer and a Spy (2019)

IMDb:

7.2

RT Users:

8.4

Letterboxd:

6.84

7.48

Drama, History, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Louis Garrel, Jean Dujardin, Emmanuelle Seigner, Grégory Gadebois, Melvil Poupaud

SYNOPSIS:

A story about the Dreufeus affair, concerning French captain Alfred Dreyfus who is wrongfully convicted of passing military secrets to the Germans and sentenced to life imprisonment at Devil’s island.

8 – Tess (1979)

IMDb:

7.3

RT Users:

7.8

Letterboxd:

7.46

7.52

Drama, Romance

Top Billed Cast:

Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin, Rosemary Martin

SYNOPSIS:

In Roman Polanski’s take on “Tess of the D’Urbervilles,” impressionable young Tess (Nastassja Kinski) is sent by her alcoholic father to visit her rich relatives and apply for a job. She’s taken in and immediately seduced by her cousin, Alec (Leigh Lawson), who leaves her pregnant. She keeps it to herself and, after the child dies, begins a relationship with a respectable farmer, Angel (Peter Firth). They marry, but when Angel learns of her speckled past, he’s not sure he can live with it.

7 – Death and the Maiden (1994)

IMDb:

7.3

RT Users:

8.1

Letterboxd:

7.16

7.52

Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson, Krystia Mova, Jonathan Vega

SYNOPSIS:

Paulina Escobar (Sigourney Weaver) is convinced that the guest (Ben Kingsley) her lawyer husband (Stuart Wilson) brings home is the same man who who kidnapped, tortured and raped her years ago. Holding him captive at gunpoint, she repeatedly attacks him and demands that he confess his crime. Her husband tries to stand by his wife and her claims, but he begins to doubt her story and the claims. She forces her husband to represent the guest in a mock trial that she devises.

6 – Knife in the Water (1962)

IMDb:

7.4

RT Users:

8.5

Letterboxd:

7.40

7.77

Drama, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Roman Polanski, Anna Ciepielewska

SYNOPSIS:

On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej (Leon Niemczyk) and Krystyna (Jolanta Umecka) nearly run over a young hitchhiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz). Inviting the young man onto the boat with them, Andrzej begins to subtly torment him; the hitchhiker responds by making overtures toward Krystyna. When the hitchhiker is accidentally knocked overboard, the husband’s panic results in unexpected consequences. This was the first feature directed by Roman Polanski.

5 – The Tenant (1976)

IMDb:

7.6

RT Users:

8.7

Letterboxd:

7.64

7.98

Drama, Horror, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Bernard Fresson, Shelley Winters

SYNOPSIS:

In Paris, isolated Eastern European émigré Trelkovsky (Roman Polanski) rents an apartment in a spooky old building whose inhabitants regard him with suspicion and even outright hostility. When he learns that the apartment’s previous tenant, a beautiful woman, tried to commit suicide by jumping out the window, Trelkovsky begins to identify with her in increasingly disturbing ways. Then, to make matters even worse, he reaches the conclusion that his new neighbors are plotting to kill him.

4 – Repulsion (1965)

IMDb:

7.6

RT Users:

8.6

Letterboxd:

7.76

7.99

Drama, Horror, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux, Patrick Wymark, Renée Houston

SYNOPSIS:

In Roman Polanski’s first English-language film, beautiful young manicurist Carole (Catherine Deneuve) suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen (Yvonne Furneaux), leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend (Ian Hendry), Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.

3 – Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

IMDb:

8.0

RT Users:

8.7

Letterboxd:

8.32

8.34

Drama, Horror, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Victoria Vetri

SYNOPSIS:

A young wife comes to believe that her offspring is not of this world. Waifish Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) and her struggling actor husband Guy (John Cassavetes) move to a New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and odd neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet (Sidney Blackmer, Ruth Gordon). When Rosemary becomes pregnant she becomes increasingly isolated, and the diabolical truth is revealed only after Rosemary gives birth.

2 – Chinatown (1974)

IMDb:

8.2

RT Users:

9.3

Letterboxd:

8.42

8.64

Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Top Billed Cast:

Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Diane Ladd, Roman Polanski

SYNOPSIS:

When Los Angeles private eye J.J. “Jake” Gittes (Jack Nicholson) is hired by Evelyn Mulwray to investigate her husband’s activities, he believes it’s a routine infidelity case. Jake’s investigation soon becomes anything but routine when he meets the real Mrs. Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) and realizes he was hired by an imposter. Mr. Mulwray’s sudden death sets Gittes on a tangled trail of corruption, deceit and sinister family secrets as Evelyn’s father (John Huston) becomes a suspect in the case.

1 – The Pianist (2002)

IMDb:

8.5

RT Users:

9.6

Letterboxd:

8.52

8.87

Drama, History, War

Top Billed Cast:

Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman, Emilia Fox, Ed Stoppard

SYNOPSIS:

In this adaptation of the autobiography “The Pianist: The Extraordinary True Story of One Man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945,” Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Polish Jewish radio station pianist, sees Warsaw change gradually as World War II begins. Szpilman is forced into the Warsaw Ghetto, but is later separated from his family during Operation Reinhard. From this time until the concentration camp prisoners are released, Szpilman hides in various locations among the ruins of Warsaw.

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Roman Polanski - All His Films Ranked - Part Two

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