French woman claims rape by Polanski in 1975

AFRENCH WOMAN IN HER early 60s claims she was violently raped at age 18 by Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski, a fugitive from the U.S. for more than four decades since pleading guilty to a sex offence with a minor, a French newspaper reported Friday.

Le Parisien said the woman, Valentine Monnier, alleges she was raped in 1975 at Polanski’s chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, when she was 18.

The paper quoted Polanski’s lawyer, Herve Temime, as saying that the 86-year-old Polanski “firmly contests” the allegation. Temime “deplored” in his response to the newspaper that the claim is being made public shortly before Polanski’s latest film,

J’accuse (An Officer and a Spy)

is being released in France. Monnier told Le Parisien that it was the film that triggered her decision to go public, saying that “rape is a time bomb.”

does not normally disclose the identities of purported rape victims, but Monnier gave her consent to be identified by Le Parisien

after contacting the paper in mid-september. The paper said she had previously written letters to the Los Angeles police, French first lady Brigitte Macron and others. One of several who responded was Marlene Schiappa, junior minister for gender equality, who noted the case was too old for judicial action.

Polanski’s latest film is the story of what is known as the Dreyfus Affair, the infamous 19th century scandal in France in which army Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, a Jew, was wrongly convicted of treason. It underscored the failure of justice.

Monnier said publicity surrounding the film revived the “traumatic memory” of her encounter with Polanski, in particular what she claims was a comparison the filmmaker made in one interview of the relentless pursuit of Dreyfus to what he has been subjected to over the American case. Polanski pleaded guilty in the U.S. in 1977 to having sex with a 13-year-old, then fled to

Kristen Bell, right,

poses with her character Anna at the world premiere of at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.