Roman Polanski's wife hopeful about resolution in his teen sex case

Roman Polanski's wife says her husband's house arrest in Switzerland has upended her family but that she's convinced "the matter will be solved."

Emmanuelle Seigner told the Warsaw magazine Viva! that she and her children don't live in Polanski's Swiss chalet, where he's under house arrest, but visit him frequently. She said the situation has left his children feeling disoriented and that she is afraid.

"I am no longer such a carefree person; I am no longer the same Emmanuelle," she told the magazine.

Seigner did not elaborate on how she believes Polanski's criminal case will be resolved.

Last month, Polanski's legal battle to avoid returning to the U.S. got a boost when a Swiss official said extradition proceedings stemming from his three-decade-old child sex case were on indefinite hold.

The Swiss Justice Ministry's deputy director said authorities would not make any decision on Polanski's case until courts in California made a definitive ruling on whether the director could be sentenced without returning to the U.S. The issue is not pending before any California court, but Polanski's lawyers have said they will appeal a lower court judge's refusal last month to sentence him in absentia.

The apparent reluctance of the Swiss to move on the extradition until all of Polanski's legal options in the U.S. are exhausted raises the possibility that a conclusion to the celebrated case is months and possibly years away. The time line would depend in part on how long Polanski's U.S. attorneys -- and Los Angeles County prosecutors -- pursue various appeals.

Prosecutors maintain that Polanski, who fled on the eve of his 1978 sentencing, faces up to two years in prison for the crime of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.