Frédéric Mitterrand (21 August 1947 – 21 March 2024) was a French actor, screenwriter, producer, and politician who served as Minister of Culture and Communication of France from 2009 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Mitterrand's writings were applauded for their honesty at time of release, but resurfaced in a different light four years later following his defence of Roman Polanski, who had been detained in Switzerland and awaiting extradition to face American charges for sexually abusing a minor.

He was also criticised by then-Socialist Party spokesman Benoît Hamon, who stated that "as a minister of culture, he has drawn attention to himself by defending [Polanski], and he has written a book where he said he took advantage of sexual tourism.

"[9] On the other hand, he received support from a close aide to Nicolas Sarkozy who said the French President backed his Culture Minister, describing the controversy around him as "pathetic".

Mitterrand stated, "Each time I was with people who were my age, or who were five years younger – there wasn't the slightest ambiguity – and who were consenting", and that he uses the term "boys" loosely, both in his life and in the book.