Poseidon-3 Review of Knife in the Water

Knife in the Water (1962)

Classic study of the "Anything you can do, I can do better" attitude.

[27 September 2006]

Almost legendary, as director Polanski's first full-length feature film, this moody, tense tale of one-upmanship remains impressive today, even more so when considering the circumstances of its genesis. Niemczyk plays a stubborn and cocky man who is travelling with his younger wife (Umecka) by car en route to their sailboat for a long day of sun and fun. When a young hitchhiker (Malanowicz) steps in front of his car, a tug of war begins in which Niemczyk and Malanowicz attempt, over and over, sometimes playfully and sometimes not, to out-do each other in practically everything they can think of. Niemczyk enjoys taunting the seemingly-assured Malanowicz, encouraging him to overextend himself at various tasks and trials while Umecka looks on, sometimes amused and sometimes annoyed. The tension builds throughout the day, relieved only occasionally by periods of camaraderie and placidness. Eventually, however, the men's attitudes and rivalry begin to boil into a serious level of competition, leading to fear, confusion and deception. Made under the Communist regime in Poland, Polanski's film was fraught with issues from the start and was, in fact, banned there for depicting upper middle class citizens enjoying the luxury of sailing on a private boat. Polanski, who suffered a skull fracture in a car accident during the filming, refused to rest up for fear that his film might not see fruition if he took time off for recovery! He achieves amazing results from the potentially disastrous raw materials at hand such as two young performers who had never been in a film before (!) and the specter of working in the confined locale of the sailboat on water (water, as a filming location, has defeated many a budget and many a director over the years.) Film buffs attracted to the movie for it's striking title and the director's reputation for blood and mayhem may be disappointed that the movie doesn't end with a lot of violence, but the mental game of chess is intriguing enough to hold one's attention (abetted by an almost endlessly growing feeling of tension.) Also, the young lady of the film is quite attractive in her bikini once she dumps her goofy cat's eye glasses and let's her hair down. The men are frequently stripped down to abbreviated swimwear as well, though their appeal will depend upon the taste of the individual viewer as they are not necessarily matinée idol in their appearance. This concept was reworked and amped up in the later film "Dead-Calm" starring Sam Neill, Nicole Kidman and Billy Zane. Fans of that film might find this one tame, but this one is the more atmospheric, not to mention realistic, of the two.