10 Best Roman Polanski Movies

Private detective Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) gets caught up in a dark conspiracy involving corruption, water rights and family secrets in Los Angeles. With a brilliant script by Robert Towne, legendary twists and an unforgettable ending, Chinatown remains one of the best films ever made.

A young woman (Mia Farrow) becomes pregnant but suspects that her neighbors are part of a satanic plot against her. Polanski builds the tension slowly and subtly, with an ominous atmosphere and a shocking ending that made film history.

Adrien Brody plays Władysław Szpilman, a Jewish pianist who survives the Holocaust by hiding in the ruins of Warsaw. A moving, raw war drama with superb direction and an Oscar-winning lead performance by Brody; Polanski won the Oscar for Best Director and the film took the Palme d'Or.

A man (played by Polanski himself) rents an apartment in Paris whose previous tenant attempted suicide, and slowly begins to suspect that his neighbors are trying to drive him to the same fate. This slow, oppressive nightmare is a descent into complete madness.

A young woman (Catherine Deneuve) loses her grip on reality while alone in her London apartment. With unforgettable hallucinations, like hands reaching out of the walls, and claustrophobic camerawork, it's one of the most suffocating films ever made.

Polanski's version of Macbeth is bloody, raw and merciless, widely seen as shaped by the murder of his wife Sharon Tate by the Manson family. A visually stunning, violent and nihilistic Shakespeare adaptation.

Harrison Ford plays an American doctor whose wife disappears in Paris, drawing him into a dangerous conspiracy. Classic Hitchcockian suspense and paranoia, with Harrison Ford excellent in an atypical everyman role.

A writer (Ewan McGregor) is hired to finish the memoirs of a former British prime minister (Pierce Brosnan) and uncovers dark secrets. With a subtle, oppressive atmosphere and a memorable ending, it's one of Polanski's best later films.

A young British couple on a cruise gets drawn into the bizarre, destructive love story of a mysterious couple. The film balances between erotic tension and psychological drama, with a sadistic edge.

A wounded gangster on the run invades a remote castle and exposes the bizarre relationship of the couple living there. With surreal humor, absurd characters and psychological tension, it's one of Polanski's most underrated films.