A documentary currently airing on HBO concerns the case of Roman Polanski, who had sex with a 13-year old girl and fled the country. The documentary details Polanski’s tragic life — losing his parents to the Nazis, his wife to Charles Manson — and the milieu in which the story played out.

The judge was a bit star struck and overly concerned about the press — at one point, he asked a reporter  in private what sentence he ought to give. To the extent that he broke his word with Polanski and his attorney, Polanski can be regarded as aggrieved.

But the documentary glosses over the essential villainy of what Polanski did. He now lives in Paris and is highly respected, even winning an Oscar a few years back. Hollywood people refer to him as living “in exile.”

Again, we bring you the sordid details. Stop reading if blunt language offends you. Here is the story, right from the transcript:

At age 43, Polanski invited a 13-year old girl to pose for a photo spread in French Vogue magazine. He shot her one day, then invited her back for a second round. He fed her champagne and a Quaalude, got her to remove her top, then photographed her in the jacuzzi (this happened at Jack Nicholson’s home when no one else was there).

Polanski got naked and joined her in the jacuzzi. She got uncomfortable and lied that she had asthma and needed to go home to get her medicine. Instead of heeding her request, Polanski got her into a bedroom and went down on her. In the transcript, she called this performing “cuddliness” (she meant cunnilingus) and she describes herself as “ready to cry.”

Then he penetrated her vagina. After a while, he inquired about her last period, and apparently deciding there was a risk of pregnancy, he decided to “go in through her back.”

If anything, the documentary demonstrates how times have changed. No 43-year-old would be able to plea bargain his way out of that. He’d be a pedophile doing time and then put on a list of sexual predators.