PARIS (AP) A French 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 offense with a minor, a French newspaper reported Friday.

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

The paper quoted Polanskis lawyer, Herve Temime, as saying that the 86-year-old Polanski firmly contests the allegation. The attorney could not be immediately reached by The Associated Press.

Temime deplored in his response to the newspaper that the claim is being made public shortly before Polanskis latest film, JAccuse (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.