Filmmaker Roman Polanski has been accused of raping French actor Valentine Monnier in 1975 when she was 18 years old.

According to Le Parisien via Variety, Monnier said the director raped her at a ski chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, in 1975. “I had no links with him, neither personal nor professional and hardly knew him,” Monnier said, adding the alleged rape was “extremely violent”.

“He pummelled me until I gave in and then raped me, making me do all sorts of things,” she claimed.

Monnier, now 62, said she came forward with her allegations due to the release of Polanski’s new film, J’Accuse.

“Rape is a time bomb. The memory does not fade. It becomes a ghost and it follows you, and it changes you insidiously” she said. Polanski’s lawyer, Herve Temime, told Le Parisien the director “firmly denies all accusations of rape.