Roman Polanski was released from jail yesterday to join the Milky Way — the name of his luxury Alpine chalet where he has been placed under house arrest by the Swiss authorities.
The film director arrived at the property in one of two Swiss police limousines that swept past reporters and into the garage.
The director will be confined to the house while Berne studies a US request to extradite him to California, from where he fled in 1978 after admitting unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.
French media reports suggest that he is bewildered at his detention, which began when he was arrested as he arrived in Zurich on September 26 to receive a lifetime achievement award.
But as prisons go, the chalet in the millionaire’s resort of Gstaad is not too bad.
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The three-storey wood-and-stucco house is set in 1,800sq m of grounds, which include lawns, shrubs, a terrace equipped with teak chairs and a table and an aromatic herb garden.
A balcony at the back has a view over one Alpine peak, the front room has a view over another and the attic bedroom a view over a third.
There is a wooden hut at the end of a stone path by the perimeter fence and a surveillance camera on the front gate.
Neighbours include Roger Moore, Bernie Ecclestone, the French rock idol Johnny Hallyday and Ernesto Bertarelli, the Swiss billionaire who founded Alinghi, the team that has won the America’s Cup twice.
Polanski’s wife, Emmanuelle Seigner, 43, the French actress and singer, was waiting for him with their two children, Morgane, 16, and Elvis, 9. They will be allowed to stay at his side.
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Mathilde Seigner, his sister-in-law, who is also an actress, has said that the wider family is planning an annual get-together at the chalet this Christmas.
Swiss judicial officials said that there was nothing to stop them since the 76-year-old can receive visits from whomever he likes.
The director can also finish work on The Ghost, his next film, make telephone calls and send e-mails, which will not be monitored.
He is not, however, allowed to leave the house. “Mr Polanski and his family say that it’s no use waiting, he won’t come out anyway,” a security guard told journalists.
His movements will be surveyed by an electronic device ordered by the Swiss Federal Criminal Court, which ruled that there was a ‘’high risk’’ of him trying to escape.
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The system, which was fitted at the chalet last weekend and activated yesterday, is linked to a bracelet that he must wear at all times.
If he takes the bracelet off or leaves his property, police will be alerted and Polanski faces a return to jail and the loss of the 4.5 million Swiss francs that he was required to provide as bail.
“Polanski has undertaken not to leave his house and property at any time,” said a spokesman for the Swiss Justice Ministry.
But if the maker of such classics as Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby changes his mind, he has at least an outside chance of reaching the French border before he is intercepted. It is just 67km (42 miles) away and a journey to the crossing takes 1 hour 17 minutes.
The director, who has dual Franco-Polish nationality, would almost certainly be safe in France, which does not extradite its own citizens and where he enjoys broad support among the political and cultural Establishment.
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He is unlikely, however, to make a run for it until December 10, when his US lawyers will lodge an appeal claim to have all charges against him dropped.