Knife in the Water

Knife in the Water (Noz w Wode) is Roman Polanski's first feature film. It stands out compared to other Polish films of the time because it has a contemporary story. Other directors, such as Andrzej Wajda, did make films with contemporary stories but the majority of the Polish movies in the early 1960s were about the war.

One remarkable aspect about this movie is there are only three actors. There is a middle-age man named Andrzej, his young wife Krystyna and a young man. The sparks that result from the trio are enough to totally keep the story interesting and suspenseful.

On the way to the lake, the couple picks up a young man hitchhiking. The young man is a wise guy and a risk taker. They take him along with them to their boat and go sailing. Andrzej sees the young man's character and wants to teach him a lesson. Both of the men are very alike and get a kick out of the game of cat and mouse they play. The men use shows of bravado and laughter as weapons, no doubt trying to not only outdo the other but also impress Krystyna. Krystyna tries to keep the situation as calm as possible as both try to outwit each other.

The tension builds and builds the longer they are together. One can't help but think that the film is titled Knife in the Water. How and when the knife will play a role is always on the back of one's mind. Considering the great tension between the men, it just seems like a matter of time before the knife settles their dispute.

Keeping in mind the story is relatively simple, just three people going on a boat together, Polanski has to be given a lot of credit that he made the film so intense.

If this hadn't been a Criterion disk, I would have thought at first that it was a panned-and-scanned copy of a widescreen film, the use of off-screen space is so profound. And it feels, at first, like it should be widescreen -- the empty landscape, long straight road, the couple sitting far apart in the front seat of their car -- it must have been a shock to a lot of cinemagoers 45 years ago. THIS is Polish cinema? This looks like French or Italian cinema -- Antonioni, or Godard, or Truffaut perhaps. And though there are some superficial resemblances, finally, it's something quite different.

Our couple - middle-aged Adrezej and his much younger wife Krystyna - pick up a young hitchhiker (never named) and the older man invites him - or perhaps coerces him - along for a ride on their sailboat. All the elements are in place for a thriller, a murder perhaps or a sexual game play; the older man, cynical and intellectual and clearly hiding much of himself; the younger and quite attractive wife who seems quite bored - though of him, of the sailing, or of life itself we cannot tell - she is a cypher through much of the film; the young man whose purposes and desires are never clear, probably even to himself.

Tension, tension, tension -- yet little happens. And when it does, do we really care? Should we? We're concerned I suppose to see whether the status quo is broken, to see if the wife and husband come to verbal blows, or the young man and the increasingly sadistic husband enter a physical altercation. When finally there is an "event" that seems to forbode a major change, even a catastrophe in the situation, we wonder if it will even matter....

I loved the photography, the beautiful tight, cramped and yet desolate compositions of boat, a human or three, and water and sky; the jazzy score by Krzysztof Komeda; the acting, even of the much-maligned Jolanta Umecka as Krystyna, who seemed to me to have the perfect blankness for such a role (she could have been wonderful for Antonioni); but I was unmoved while watching, at first, and even at the end rather unsure. It really wasn't until a day later, thinking it over, that I grasped the greatness of it all, the showing of an event of profound internal significance -- possibly to all 3 characters -- but of no practical importance whatsoever. Even if it is a life-changing experience, how can it be explained? Everything is internalized, and visualized only on the faces. Is this the first "thriller where nothing happens"? I don't know, but it is certainly one of the more successful examples.

The Criterion disc looks and sounds excellent; you don't get all the extras on this Essential Arthouse edition, which I think in this case are probably worth it - but if you just want the film, here it is as fresh as it was 50 years ago.

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