Directed by Roman Polanski (1960s+)
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1. Knife in the Water (1962)
Not Rated | 94 min | Drama, Thriller
A couple pick up a hitchhiker on the way to their yacht. The husband invites the young man to come along for their day's sailing. As the voyage progresses, the antagonism between the two men grows. A violent confrontation is inevitable.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Anna Ciepielewska
Votes: 23,596
Middle-aged cocksureness, arrogance and incomprehension versus teenage revolt, with a young woman as a sort of arbiter, is the theme of this lively and inventive little pic.
2. The World's Most Beautiful Swindlers (1964)
108 min | Comedy, Crime
Four swindle stories, taking place successively in Tokyo - Japan (Les cinq bienfaiteurs de Fumiko), Amsterdam - The Netherlands (La riviere de diamants), Italie (La feuille de route), and Paris - France (L'homme qui vendit la tour Eiffel).
Directors: Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Ugo Gregoretti, Hiromichi Horikawa, Roman Polanski | Stars: Mie Hama, Ken Mitsuda, Yatsuko Tan'ami, Nicole Karen
Votes: 525
3. Repulsion (1965)
Not Rated | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A sex-repulsed woman who disapproves of her sister's boyfriend sinks into depression and has horrific visions of rape and violence.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Catherine Deneuve, Ian Hendry, John Fraser, Yvonne Furneaux
Votes: 57,284
Roman Polanski's first English film follows a schizophrenic woman's descent into madness, and makes the audience feel as claustrophobic as the character.
4. Cul-de-sac (1966)
Not Rated | 112 min | Comedy, Drama, Thriller
In search of help, two wounded gangsters on the run find refuge in the secluded castle of a feeble man and his wife; however, under the point of a gun, nothing is what it seems.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Donald Pleasence, Françoise Dorléac, Lionel Stander, Jack MacGowran
Votes: 13,972
This much sounds like a standard horror-film outline, especially since Stander looks amazingly like Frankenstein. But Polanski ignores the horror to concentrate instead on macabre humor.
5. The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)
Not Rated | 91 min | Comedy, Horror
A noted professor and his dim-witted apprentice fall prey to their inquiring vampires, while on the trail of the ominous damsel in distress.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack MacGowran, Roman Polanski, Alfie Bass, Jessie Robins
Votes: 33,873
This uneven but amiable 1967 vampire picture is part horror spoof, part central European epic, and 100 percent Roman Polanski, whose signature sensibility colors every frame.
6. Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Approved | 137 min | Drama, Horror
A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer
Votes: 235,282
A frightening tale of Satanism and pregnancy that is even more disturbing than it sounds thanks to convincing and committed performances by Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon.
7. Macbeth (1971)
R | 140 min | Drama, History
A ruthlessly ambitious Scottish lord seizes the throne with the help of his scheming wife and a trio of witches.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jon Finch, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw, Terence Bayler
Votes: 14,978
Roman Polanski's Macbeth is unsettling and uneven, but also undeniably compelling.
8. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 349,957
As bruised and cynical as the decade that produced it, this noir classic benefits from Robert Towne's brilliant screenplay, director Roman Polanski's steady hand, and wonderful performances from Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway.
9. The Tenant (1976)
R | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
A bureaucrat rents a Paris apartment where he finds himself drawn into a rabbit hole of dangerous paranoia.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, Melvyn Douglas, Jo Van Fleet
Votes: 47,633 | Gross: $1.92M
A rough-edged thriller that lacks the precision of Polanski's best work, but makes up for it with its skillful mounting of paranoia, dread, and dark themes.
10. Tess (1979)
PG | 186 min | Drama, Romance
A strong-willed young peasant girl attracts the affection of two men.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson, John Collin
Votes: 18,279
This is a wonderful film.
11. Pirates (1986)
PG-13 | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
The adventures of pirate Captain Red and his first mate Frog.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Walter Matthau, Cris Campion, Damien Thomas, Olu Jacobs
Votes: 9,453 | Gross: $1.64M
If Roman Polanski has done a worse film than Pirates I certainly haven't seen it.
12. Frantic (1988)
R | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In a hotel room in Paris, a doctor comes out of the shower and finds that his wife has disappeared. He soon finds himself caught up in a world of intrigue, espionage, gangsters, drugs and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Harrison Ford, Betty Buckley, Emmanuelle Seigner, Djiby Soumare
Votes: 57,820 | Gross: $17.64M
A tense, on-point thriller in the vein of Polanski's earlier work.
13. Bitter Moon (1992)
R | 139 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller
After hearing stories of her, a passenger on a cruise ship develops an irresistible infatuation with an eccentric paraplegic's wife.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emmanuelle Seigner, Peter Coyote
Votes: 42,700 | Gross: $1.86M
It's a matter of some dispute whether Roman Polanski's letter to the darker side of the romantic impulse, but there's little question that this is his most emotionally complex movie.
14. Death and the Maiden (1994)
R | 103 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson, Krystia Mova
Votes: 26,823 | Gross: $2.10M
Polanski certainly gets the maximum voltage and precision out of his story and actors, keeping us preternaturally alert to shifting power relationships and delayed revelations.
15. The Ninth Gate (1999)
R | 133 min | Mystery, Thriller
A book broker discovers his latest find may summon Satan.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Johnny Depp, Frank Langella, Lena Olin, Emmanuelle Seigner
Votes: 197,550 | Gross: $18.66M
Even though the film is stylish and atmospheric, critics say The Ninth Gate meanders aimlessly and is often ludicrous. And despite the advertising, there's hardly any chills.
16. The Pianist (2002)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, Music
During WWII, acclaimed Polish musician Wladyslaw faces various struggles as he loses contact with his family. As the situation worsens, he hides in the ruins of Warsaw in order to survive.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Emilia Fox
Votes: 912,668 | Gross: $32.57M
Well-acted and dramatically moving, The Pianist is Polanski's best work in years.
17. Oliver Twist (2005)
PG-13 | 130 min | Crime, Drama
An adaptation of the classic Dickens tale, where an orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Barney Clark, Ben Kingsley, Jeremy Swift, Ian McNeice
Votes: 34,291 | Gross: $1.99M
Polanski's version of Dickens' classic won't have audiences asking for more because while polished and directed with skill, the movie's a very impersonal experience.
18. To Each His Own Cinema (2007)
100 min | Comedy, Drama
A collective film of 33 shorts directed by different directors about their feelings about Cinema.
Directors: Theodoros Angelopoulos, Olivier Assayas, Bille August, Jane Campion, Youssef Chahine, Kaige Chen, Michael Cimino, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, David Cronenberg, Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne, Manoel de Oliveira, Raymond Depardon, Atom Egoyan, Amos Gitai, Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Aki Kaurismäki, Abbas Kiarostami, Takeshi Kitano, Andrey Konchalovskiy, Claude Lelouch, Ken Loach, David Lynch, Tsai Ming-liang, Nanni Moretti, Roman Polanski, Raúl Ruiz, Walter Salles, Elia Suleiman, Gus Van Sant, Lars von Trier, Wim Wenders, Kar-Wai Wong, Yimou Zhang | Stars: Isabelle Adjani, Pegah Ahangarani, Anouk Aimée, Leonid Alexeenko
Votes: 5,457
Cumulatively, the films are laced with nostalgia for a time when cinema represented the shock of the new.
19. The Ghost Writer (2010)
PG-13 | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A ghost writer, hired to complete the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister, uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Jon Bernthal
Votes: 170,839 | Gross: $15.54M
While it may lack the revelatory punch of Polanski's finest films, Ghost Writer benefits from stylish direction, a tense screenplay, and a strong central performance from Ewan McGregor.
20. Carnage (2011)
R | 80 min | Comedy, Drama
Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly
Votes: 133,041 | Gross: $2.55M
It isn't as compelling on the screen as it was on the stage, but Carnage makes up for its flaws with Polanski's smooth direction and assured performances from Winslet and Foster.
21. Venus in Fur (2013)
Not Rated | 96 min | Drama
An actress attempts to convince a director how she's perfect for a role in his upcoming production.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathieu Amalric
Votes: 20,973 | Gross: $0.34M
Provocative, funny, and brilliantly acted, Venus in Fur finds Roman Polanski in top late-period form.
22. Based on a True Story (I) (2017)
100 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A writer goes through a tough period after the release of her latest book, as she gets involved with an obsessive admirer.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Emmanuelle Seigner, Eva Green, Vincent Perez, Dominique Pinon
Votes: 7,391
A stylish but ultimately stiff collection of old tropes about writers and their audience, fiction vs. reality, and the Other that becomes you.
23. An Officer and a Spy (2019)
132 min | Drama, History, Thriller
In 1894, French Captain Alfred Dreyfus is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment at Devil's island.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Louis Garrel, Christophe Maratier, Pierre Poirot, Stéfan Godin
Votes: 21,102
It's an absolute masterclass in how to make an historical film.
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