Knife In The Water

Finally, I watch this wonderful film. Polanski takes a very simple plot and produces not a thriller, but an insight into the way power shifts within relationships. Jolanta Umecka - a girl 'spotted at the local pool' - is sublime, her physical appearance transformed as she goes from land to water and back to land, something of a metaphor for what is going on between the three protagonists. The film still looks great - even the wide-skied shots feel claustrophobic - and the score is good (even if you aren't that taken by Polish jazz!). Definitely a film that should be seen by anyone interested in how to make great films with tiny resources.

On the way to the lakes to spend a night on their boat, an arrogant sports journalist and his unhappy wife pick up a young hitchhiker. The two men embark on a masculine battle of wills, which starts playfully enough, but which threatens to get out of hand in the confines of a small boat. The scenario for Polanski's debut is completely contrived and non-sensical, but if you can ignore that, it's a brilliantly inventive and original work that feels effortlessly cool fifty years on.

Polanski has had an interesting career to say the least-his first feature is very engrossing and unlike his other films has a very theatrical mood and could definitely have been a play. Good raw acting and directing too.

Shot through with enough emotional electricity to rival Bergman’s finest work, Polanski’s claustrophobic first feature is nothing short of a masterpiece. An intense love triangle between an middle-aged journalist, his nubile wife and a mysterious young hitchhiker they pick up; most of the action occurs on a small yacht, as this minimal cast spend their day navigating the waters of Northern Poland. We see from the opening scene that Andrzej and Krysynya’s relationship is strained; he remonstrates with his wife about her driving skills and exasperated, she stops the car and walks around to the passenger seat for him to take over. Upon taking the wheel, Andrzej almost runs over a young man; a hitchhiker somewhat intimidatingly standing in the middle of the road. An argument ensues but eventually the stranger is invited to join them on their trip. Andrzej is a bit of a bully really; an egotistical but ageing journalist who revels in taking pot-shots at the younger man; hell bent on proving his physical and intellectual superiority. Quite logically, his wife Krystnya soon becomes attracted to the object of her husband’s derision and we see a gradual metamorphosis from the bespectacled and rather repressed looking woman we are first introduced to into much more of a powerful sexual being. Malanowicz plays the young man with just the right amount of mystery and air of menace; he unnervingly plays with a large flick-knife throughout the film to great dramatic effect. Niemczyk is perfect as the older man with something to prove; despite his behaviour he is still able to elicit some degree sympathy for his childishness. After all, he’s jealous of the young stranger and is worried his wife will leave him. Polanski’s direction is wonderfully taut and the constraints faced by the cast and crew (they often had to hang off the side of the boat to all fit on) only add to the film’s suffocating power.

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This film shows early signs of Polanski's genius, and provides a deceptively simple tale that is well worth a watch.

It involves 3 characters: a wealthy husband and wife, and a poor young hitchhiker. Most of the filming takes place aboard a sailboat. The remainder is shot while the couple are travelling in a car.

For me, the story could have been told in a much shorter time.There are moments when little happens. At times, the story was padded out.

That said, the film comes alive when the characters are engaged in psychological (at times malicious) games. The key element is the tension that simmers between the characters and eventually boils over.

Not quite at the standard of Rosemary's Baby. However, it shares with R.B. an ambiguity to its ending which will either intrigue or infuriate. Personally, I thought the ending was brilliantly done.