10 Best Polanski Movies

The best Roman Polanski movies make it obvious that his scandals shouldn't overshadow his genius. These are 10 masterpieces among Polanski films over the past 50 years depicting horrors both supernatural and human.

Best Polanski Movies: The Ghost Writer (2010)

Like Pierce Brosnan said, the movie is in the can and so is the director. Roman Polanski finished editing the film in a Swiss prison, but still delivered an entertaining thriller about a ghost writer whose assignment for a retired British prime minister becomes a little too exciting. The film also stars Ewan McGregor.

Best Polanski Movies: The Pianist (2002)

This Polanski film won his only Oscar for best director. Drawing in part on his own escape from Nazi-occupied Poland, it uses the story of a gifted musician to show the role of chance in picking who survives a Holocaust. Adrien Brody stars.

Best Polanski Movies: Death and the Maiden (1994)

A woman (Sigourney Weaver) confronts a man (Ben Kingsley) who she believes tortured her when she was arrested years ago. Even if she's right about the facts, it raises questions of whether she's right to seek retribution.

Best Polanski Movies: Bitter Moon (1992)

A boring couple (Hugh Grant and Kristen Scott-Thomas) has a dangerous encounter on a cruise ship with another couple (Peter Coyote and Polanski's real life wife Emmanuelle Seigner) consumed by mutual hatred. There are much worse things than boredom.

Best Polanski Movies: Tess (1979)

Nastassja Kinski stars as the heroine in this adaptation of the Thomas Hardy novel. The beautiful countryside serves as a backdrop for an ugly story of seduction and murder.

Best Polanski Movies: Chinatown (1974)

In this gritty private eye drama, Jack Nicholson wants to help Faye Dunaway but everyone is doomed in Chinatown. Roman Polanski plays a small but memorable role.

Best Polanski Movies: The Tragedy of Macbeth (1971)

Macbeth and his wife usually seem to have their former grandeur corrupted by ambition. This provocative but effective interpretation shows them as whiney and blundering from the outset. John Finch stars.

Best Polanski Movies: Rosemary's Baby (1968)

Mia Farrow is unforgettable in this Polanski film that's often as funny as it is scary. Her happy marriage crumbles as she uncovers dark secrets about her friendly neighbors and her own baby.

Best Polanski Movies: Repulsion (1965)

Roman Polanski traps the viewer inside the mind of a sexually repressed young beauty (Catherine Deneuve) who is overcome with paranoia when left alone in an apartment one weekend. Even a ticking clock seems menacing.

Best Polanski Movies: Knife in the Water (1962)

This first feature-length Polanski film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The suspense builds as a wealthy couple invites a mysterious young hitchhiker along for a sail.