PARIS (AP) — A French newspapers says a French woman in her early 60s claims she was raped at age 18 by Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski, who has been a fugitive from the U.S. for more than four decades since pleading guilty to a sex offense.

Le Parisien reported Friday that the woman alleges she was raped in 1975 at Polanski's chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, when she was 18.

It quotes Polanski's lawyer, Herve Temime, as saying that Polanski "firmly contests" the allegation.

The attorney "deplored" that the claim is being made public shortly before Polanski's latest film, "J'Accuse," is being released in France. Le Parisien quotes the woman as saying the film triggered her decision to go public.

Polanski pleaded guilty in the U.S. in 1977 to having sex with a 13-year-old.