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Knife in the Water - Criterion Collection | 
 enlarge | Actors: Anna Ciepielewska, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Leon Niemczyk, Jolanta Umecka
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $21.45
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Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 27553
Format: Black & White, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: Polish (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 94 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 020
ISBN: 0780023269
UPC: 037429149324
EAN: 9780780023260
ASIN: B0000AINJ8
Theatrical Release Date: October 28, 1963
Release Date: September 16, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
This simple but taut psychological thriller was the first full-length film from the great director Roman Polanski. A bickering couple pick up a hitchhiker, a good-looking young man whom they invite to go for a sail. But on the water the two men, separated by age, class, and experience, subtly and not-so-subtly jockey for status and fight for the attentions of the woman--a struggle that threatens to turn fatal. In Polanski's hands, this lean, spare movie, without any special effects or spectacular scenery, manages to lay bare the driving forces of machismo, envy, and marital spite. It's the beginning of a truly remarkable career that's ranged from the heights of Rosemary's Baby and Chinatown to the more dubious realms of Bitter Moon and The Ninth Gate. Knife in the Water is particularly significant to Polanski fans, but also a striking movie in its own right. --Bret Fetzer
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
Great debut September 13, 2008
Cosmoetica (New York, USA)
Roman Polanski is at his best as a filmmaker when he focuses on the realist and small moments of horror in a human life. When he goes a bit overboard, and into the grotesque or surreal, such as in The Fearless Vampire Killers, or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are In My Neck, Rosemary's Baby, or Chinatown, his films tend to lose their way, even if still good. When his focus remains tightly on the real, such as in Repulsion or The Pianist, his films are amongst the best on screen. His very first feature film, 1962's Knife In The Water (Nóz W Wodzie), is more in line with the latter films, and as such, is one of the best debut films in cinema history, and was even a nominee for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1963 Academy Awards, where it lost to Federico Fellini's 8 .
Filmed in black and white, not long after Polanski finished film school, the 94 minute film features only three characters- not a single other actor, not even an extra, and is a taut psychological exploration of masculinity and testosterone. Yet, despite that, it's a stretch to term the film a `thriller,' as many critics have. There is very little action in the film, at least in a material sense. The real crux of the film revolves about the mental games that the two male characters play with each other, to impress the lone female in their group. In a sense, the film has much in common with many of the American television dramas of the 1950s, even though it was filmed on a real lake.
The film opens with a married couple driving in the countryside, early one Sunday morning. They are headed to their boat on the lake. He is a fortysomething, dark-haired sportswriter and avid sailor, named Andrzej (Leon Niemczyk), while his brunet wife, Krystyna (Jolanta Umecka), is a bit younger, nearing thirty, and at first seems a bit chunky and nebbishy, as she wears cat-like granny glasses. As the film progresses, she will appear more and more svelte and sexy, and it is this subtle evolution which seems to kick the two males into overdrive. The third character is a blond hitchhiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz), in his early twenties, whose name is never revealed throughout the film. Andrzej nearly runs him down on the road, then offers him a ride, seemingly to show off his prowess in front of his wife. He rides with them to the deserted marina, and is about to take off, when Andrzej offers to let him come on the trip on their sailboat, the Christine. After first declining, the young man accepts, stating he knew Andrzej would ask. This is his first upping of the ante, as he lets it be known that he is no naïf. Krystyna merely watches the two men tangle, early on.... Another thing that sets the film apart from lesser works is that it was very cogent in its critiques of Soviet dominated Poland, yet it still works today at a more personal level. As example, in its day, there was a direct stab at the supposed classlessness of a Communist society, for the married couple are obviously well off Party apparatchiks- replete with a fancy car, yacht and apartment, who worry if their windshield wipers will be stolen, if they leave their car for a day. They are stolen, at film's end, but even such a worry says much for the dire state of things in the Soviet bloc. The young hitchhiker is the common man, the young idealistic sort that totalitarian states despise, and a good deal of the tension between the men has to do not only with testosterone, but with class differences. But, it is the testosteronic tension that still resonates and carries the film today. Also, there is a Twilight Zone-like otherworldliness to this film that also resonates. After all, it's a Sunday morning, there are many other boats docked in the marina, but only the three characters in the film are boating, as if they are occupying some usually unseen portion of an Apocalyptic film's world.
Knife In The Water is a quiet film, unlike showier Hollywood knockoffs, thus why it still works, and has not dated. It could be set in any part of the world over the last hundred or so years, for the setup is timeless, even if Polanski's denouement is unique. If Andrzej wins, and the youth is really dead, there is the classic might makes right motif. If the youth dispatches Andrzej, then there is the classic father/son conflict, but if the film ends with all three surviving, and with the woman holding the upper hand in a conflicted state between the three, then the narrative has taken a turn toward realism and depth with strong claims to being great art. Polanski makes all the right choices in this film. That all the `action' takes place in about a twenty-four hour period only heightens the intensity of the subtle gamesmanship on all three parties' parts, and allows the narrative to be both naturalistic, yet also classically dramatic. When one can get `the best of both worlds,' to such a degree, one is accomplishing alot, and Roman Polanski's Knife In The Water does that and much more. Would more art supply the `much more' it often promises, works like this film would not surprise and delight the viewer to such a satisfying degree.
 It stands out compared to other Polish films November 14, 2007
Richard J. Brzostek (New England, USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
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.
Revisiting "Knife in the Water" July 28, 2007
H. F. Corbin (ATLANTA, GA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Before he gave the world "Chinatown," "Rosemary's Baby," "Macbeth," "The Pianist" and "Tess," the great Polish director Roman Polanski released his first feature film (1962) "Knife in the Water." It is much better than I remember since I saw it when it was first shown in the U. S. The plot is simple and straight-forward. A Polish couple, Leon Niemczyk and Jolanta Umecka, pick up a young hitchhiker Zygmunt Malanowicz and invite him to go sailing with them on a beautiful Polish lake. These three are the only characters in this low budget film although the lack of money certainly did not affect its quality. The movie teems with sexual energy as well as a certain scary quality that Polanski of course was to perfect in later works. Much is made of the hitcher's knife (phallic symbol?) which he bandies about and the viewer is never certain that something ominous is not about to happen. There isn't a lot of dialogue although not much is necessary so the subtitles aren't much of a bother.
Shot in beautiful black and white, the film often has the look of still photography. Some of the frames are suitable for framing. Polanski in a very informative interview included with the DVD discusses his art school and still photography background. He also says that the female in the movie had no previous acting experience and that he "discovered" her at a public swimming pool and that his own voice was dubbed for the young hitchhiker whose voice was too high pitched.
The beautiful cinematography, the fine directing and understated acting make this film a joy to watch.
a masterpiece of understated fear and suspense April 16, 2007
A. Gould (New York City)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Proof that the best of what movies can do to an audience depends not on beautiful faces in closeup, or lavish production, or even bright dialogue. You could watch "Knife in the Water" in Polish without any subtitles and still get chills. A young, privileged couple pick up a hitchhiker and take him out on their boat for the day. That's it. The rest is the suspense that builds between the three, especially between the two men, almost destined by biology and the nature of confined spaces to fight it out over the girl, at least symbolically, if not literally, to the death. Certainly the best Polanski film I've ever seen, one of my ten favorite movies of all time.
Roman's Spring February 19, 2007
Galina (Virginia, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The first Polish film to be nominated for a Foreign Language Oscar, Roman Polanski's "Knife in the Water" is one of the most impressive director's debuts I've seen.
The story is simple. A wealthy couple on its way to spend a weekend on their yacht picks up a young and attractive hitchhiker. The middle-aged husband, a successful and cynical sportswriter invites the young man on board, perhaps to show off his nice yacht, his seamanship, and eventually, his superiority. His young and sexy wife does not say much but as the yacht moves along and tension between two men rises, she seems to enjoy the presence of a passenger and the obvious competition between them for her attention.
Made of the very simple material, the film is a brilliant psychological thriller that shows the young writer-director's extraordinary ability to create menace on the screen throughout the profound study of the characters' deep hidden emotions. Not as widely known as "Chinatown" and "Rosemary's Baby", "Knife in the Water" is the perfect introduction to the work of the director whose craft in creating disturbing studies of anger, humiliation, fear, and sexuality is truly remarkable.
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