header image
poster image

Knife in the Water

    Drama
    Thriller
73%tmdb logo
•
Mar 9, 1962
Rated NR

On their way to an afternoon on the lake, husband and wife Andrzej and Krystyna nearly run over a young hitchhiker. Inviting the young man onto the boat with them, Andrzej begins to subtly torment him; the hitchhiker responds by making overtures toward Krystyna. When the hitchhiker is accidentally knocked overboard, the husband's panic results in unexpected consequences.

Details

  • Directors
  • Vote Average
    7.3
  • Vote Count
    426
  • Popularity
    8
  • Language
    Polski
  • Origin Country
    PL

StreamingJustWatch Logo

  • Max Amazon Channel logo
    Criterion Channel logo

    • Cast

    Background image 1
    Leon Niemczyk
    Andrzej
    Background image 2
    Jolanta Umecka
    Krystyna
    Background image 3
    Zygmunt Malanowicz
    Young Man
    Background image 4
    Roman Polanski
    Young Man (voice)
    Background image 5
    Anna Ciepielewska
    Krystyna (voice)

    Recommended

    In the Name of...
    The contemporary story of a priest who launches a centre for troubled youth in a small parish. He is a good priest and is well-liked by his congregation, which remains unaware of his complicated past.
    Item image
    Viva! Django
    Django is on the trail of some renegade outlaws who raped and killed his wife. En route, he rescues a horse thief from an impromptu hanging. He discovers the man knows who committed the murder. The men team up and head west for revenge.
    Item image
    Cul-de-sac
    A wounded criminal and his dying partner take refuge at an old beachfront fortress. The owner of the fortress and his young wife, initially unwilling hosts, quickly experience their relationship with the criminal shift in a humorous and bizarre fashion.
    Item image
    In Desert and Wilderness
    Fourteen year old Polish boy Stas Tarkowski and eight year old Nel Rawlison from England are kidnapped as the hostages by Arabic fanatics and taken to their religion leader. Then they manage to escape and try to return to their fathers. Children have a lot of dangerous adventures, meet two Black kids; Kali and Mea, who also help them, make a friendship with an elephant and help one Black's tribe.
    Item image
    The Venerable W.
    A view of the religious tensions between Muslims and Buddhist through the portrait of the Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu, leader of anti-Muslim movement in Myanmar.
    Item image
    Billy Liar
    A young Englishman dreams of escaping from his working class family and dead-end job as an undertaker's assistant. A number of indiscretions cause him to lie in order to avoid the penalties. His life turns into a mess and he has an opportunity to run away and leave it all behind.
    Item image
    Little Rose
    Pressured by his superiors to disgrace public intellectual Warczewski, a professor and respected writer whom they believe to be a "camouflaged Zionist," rough security-services colonel Rozek enlists his sexy but naive girlfriend, Kamila, to insinuate herself into the distinguished older man's life and report on his every move. Not particularly interested in serving communism but eager to please her domineering lover, Kamila accepts the mission, reporting under the code name "Little Rose." As quick scenes contrast Kamila's crude pleasures with Rozek and her more refined experiences with Warczewski, it becomes clear that the more time the unschooled young woman spends with the professor, the more she comes to have true feelings for him.
    Item image
    An Outlaw
    Assassin Nanjo goes on a solitary mission to take revenge on the man who trapped him into a complicated drug deal.
    Item image
    The Cage
    A young teen with a terrible home life struggles with the everyday difficulties of living in the city, and must pursue his dreams despite the discouragement he receives.
    Item image
    S W E A T
    A documentary about the Athens underground rave scene that explores and narrates different quests for the gender, body and society, through music and dance. A cinematographic journey into the night, desire and transformation.
    Item image
    Rosie
    In a juvenile lockup, a new ward answers questions: she's Rosie, 13, no parents, a sister Irene, a brother Michel. In flashbacks we find out what happened. She lives with Irene, who's 27, whom Rosie knows is in fact her mother, but that's their secret. Irene's brother Michel, unemployed, a compulsive gambler, comes to stay with them. Around then, Irene meets Bernard; they come to care for each other. This leaves Rosie without attention, so she puts all her adolescent hopes and romantic fantasies into a relationship with Jimi, a good looking kid she sees on a bus. Is it adventures with Jimi that land her in juvie? Once she's there, why doesn't he answer her letters?
    Item image
    Beyond the Clouds
    Four tales, each centered on a woman, journey inward to explore the enigmatic reality of their lives, connecting through a single narrative thread.
    Item image
    Passage of Venus
    Photo sequence of the rare transit of Venus over the face of the Sun, one of the first chronophotographic sequences. In 1873, P.J.C. Janssen, or Pierre Jules César Janssen, invented the Photographic Revolver, which captured a series of images in a row. The device, automatic, produced images in a row without human intervention, being used to serve as photographic evidence of the passage of Venus before the Sun, in 1874.
    Item image
    Terrorizers
    An uncompromising look into urban life from the eyes of a voyeuristic photographer, a rebellious teenager, and a married couple teetering on the edge of adultery.
    Item image
    On the Beach
    In 1964, atomic war wipes out humanity in the northern hemisphere; one American submarine finds temporary safe haven in Australia, where life-as-usual covers growing despair. In denial about the loss of his wife and children in the holocaust, American Captain Towers meets careworn but gorgeous Moira Davidson, who begins to fall for him. The sub returns after reconnaissance a month (or less) before the end; will Towers and Moira find comfort with each other?
    Item image
    Repulsion
    Beautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.
    Item image
    100 Meters
    Based on the incredibly true story of a Spanish man with Multiple Sclerosis who tried to finish an Iron-Man: 3,8km swimming, 180km cycling and 42 running. And he was told that he could not make 100 meters.
    Item image

    Reviews

    (1)
    CRCulver
    60%
    Released in 1962, <i>Knife in the Water</i> (Polish: <i>Nóz w wodzie</i>) was director Roman Polanski's full-length debut. Married couple Andrzej (Leon Niemczyk) and Krystyna (Jolanta Umecka) are driving to the marina when they pick up a hitchhiker (Zygmunt Malanowicz). Though Andrzej is initially angry at the young man for standing the middle of the road, he invites him to come sailing. Once on the boat, tension arises between the two men because of Krystyna sexual appeal and the hitchhiker's poverty versus Andrzej's affluence. Not only is the title a metaphor for the boat as it moves through the lake, but it also refers to the intimidating knife that the young man carries with him. <i>Knife in the Water</i> is entertaining enough. The cinematography on the lake and the low-key soundtrack by jazz legend Krzysztof Komeda are memorable. But personally I don't find this to be an especially great film. It feels derivative of Italian cinema of the time, without an original touch. The casting of the weathered, 32 year-old Malanowicz as a 19 year-old student undermines its credibility. I suspect that the film gained so much attention on release due to its risque nature (especially novel in a film from the Eastern Bloc) instead of its intrinsic merit.