Film Review: Knife in the Water (Nóż w wodzie, 1962)
Roman Polanski, arguably the most illustrious living Polish filmmaker today, has an impressive filmography that surprisingly includes very few films made in his native Poland, let alone in the Polish language. His debut, the 1962 psychological thriller Knife in the Water, stands out as a critically acclaimed work that allowed Polanski to continue working after his emigration to the West a few years later.
The plot of Knife in the Water is relatively simple: Andrzej (played by Leon Niemczyk), a middle-aged sports journalist, brings his younger and attractive wife Krystyna (played by Jolanta Umecka) to spend a Sunday at the lake, where they own a boat. While driving to the lake, they stumble upon a young hitchhiker (played by Zygmunt Malanowicz) whom Andrzej impulsively invites to join them on the boat. Andrzej has a vague idea of using an extra pair of hands during the pleasure cruise, but the young man proves to be clumsy and inexperienced, much to Andrzej's delight as he uses every opportunity to mock him and prove his own superiority. However, as the day goes on, a simmering tension builds as the young man appears attracted to bikini-wearing Krystyna, while she obviously enjoys being the object of attention from the two men. This tension eventually explodes into open conflict over the young man's pocket knife, which happens to be his most treasured possession.
While Knife in the Water can be described as a "psychological thriller," it would be more accurate to describe it as "a psychological drama." There is indeed some suspense in the film, but there is little violence of the physical kind. Instead, there is more sex, although it happens off-screen, and there are even scenes featuring nudity, something that was becoming a common feature of 1960s European cinema, even behind the Iron Curtain.
Polanski's debut film, which he wrote with Jakub Goldberg and Jerzy Skolimowski, is deceptively simple. Featuring only three actors, with only Leon Niemczyk having professional experience, and with most of the plot taking place on a small boat, the limitations of the setting proved to be quite a technical challenge for Polanski. He somehow had to fit his relatively large crew on the small deck and find all kinds of ingenious ways to shoot on the water. Polanski passed this test with flying colors, resulting in a lean, well-paced, intelligent, and at times rather entertaining film despite its limitations.
Polanski managed to use the boat setting as a kind of micro-cosmic allegory for broader society. There are even some critical jabs at the Communist regime of Poland, namely through dialogue that posits that the average Pole, after seeing Andrzej's car, might mistake him for a foreign diplomat because such luxury was beyond the means of average citizens. However, the more interesting aspect is the intergenerational dynamic, namely the conflict between middle-aged Andrzej and the young man, with the former mocking the latter to cure his own midlife insecurities and demonstrate his power and privileged position. In some ways, Knife in the Water serves as a reflection of the much broader struggle that would escalate at the end of the decade.
Knife in the Water benefits a lot from excellent cinematography by Jerzy Lippman and a soundtrack written by legendary jazz musician and Polanski's collaborator Krzystof Komeda. Komeda's score is very effective, allowing the audience to take some sort of semi-ironic distance from the plot while at the same time elevating what otherwise would have been a rather cheap-looking drama.
For the audience and critics, there was nothing cheap about Knife in the Water. The film won the Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and received a nomination for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Polanski's debut had proven him to be an immensely talented filmmaker, thus paving the way for an impressive international career.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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