Knife in the Water (1962)

“Looking for this?”

Never pick up a hitchhiker.

Knife in the Water is critically acclaimed Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski’s debut feature. It follows a couple on a bright summer morning who reluctantly pick up a hitchhiker. After much talk between the characters, the husband invites the young man to join them on their boat trip for the day. What follows is a very claustrophobic sailing trip where both men vie for the women’s sexual attention.

Knowing Polanski and his knack for psychological horror, this film to me was at first a disappointment. But, I need a film to sink in, and when it did I suddenly realized the tension that was growing between the husband and the hitchhiker. They had a rivalry going on between the film and both tried to, I guess play some sort of game, where they would win the wife.

I felt really claustrophobic while watching this movie. Most of the entire film takes place on a boat in the middle of the sea. And it gets worse when they resort to the little room of the boat due to heavy rain. The way that Polanski directed these scenes revealed a very tight, closed setting where there wasn’t enough room for both guys, just one for the wife; this closed setting really brought out the tension and the suspense building up to the fate of the hitchhiker, and the climax as well.

The acting in this film was average, I guess. There wasn’t really nothing big to act on. It wasn’t a drama to cry in or a horror film to scream in, but it was a film to fight in. The husband’s character was mean and dominating over the hitchhiker, treating him like a slave and always insulting him that he wasn’t good for anything. Meanwhile, the hitchhiker would take this treatment, only to impress the wife, who, by the way, just sat by idly and seemed to enjoy the competition. In other words, she was a whore.

Knife in the Water is considered one of the best debut films of a director and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1963 Academy Awards. It is a well made film with rival and sexual themes. I give it a 5 out of 5 and you can buy it now on DVD or on Netflix.