Knife in the Water (Polish: Nóż w wodzie) is a 1962 film directed by Roman Polański. It features only three characters and deals with rivalry and sexual tension, and is Polanski's directorial debut.
Andrzej (Niemczyk) and Krystyna (Umecka) are driving to a lake to go sailing when they come upon a young man Zygmunt (Malanowicz) hitchhiking in the middle of the road. After nearly hitting him, Andrzej invites the young man to pick his seat and to take a nap while they continue driving. When they arrive at the docks, instead of leaving the young man behind, Andrzej invites him to sail with them for the day. The young man accepts the offer, and, not knowing much about sailing, is forced to learn many hard lessons from Andrzej.
Meanwhile, tension gradually builds between Andrzej and the unnamed hitchhiker as they vie for the attentions of the young wife. The title refers to the major turning point in the film when Andrzej taunts the young man with the latter's treasured pocket knife, which is accidentally lost in the water. A fight ensues between Andrzej and the hitchhiker and the latter falls into the water. The husband and wife search for him, but cannot find him and assume that he has drowned, since earlier he had claimed that he could not swim. Wife and husband quarrel about what to do next about the situation, resulting in the husband fleeing to escape his problem, by jumping off the yacht and swimming to shore. Afterwards, once the young man realizes that the husband has jumped the yacht, he comes out from hiding behind a buoy on the lake, and returns to the yacht where Krystyna is drying off and presumably wondering what action to take next. Before the young man goes on his way they become passionate towards each other. When Krystyna sails into the dock, Andrzej is waiting for her. He wants to go the police to report the young man as missing, but Krystyna tells him that the young man returned, and he is unconvinced even when Krystyna confesses to having been unfaithful with the young man. Andrzej appears confused and the car does not move.
Knife in the Water was shot by Roman Polanski in 1962 using only three actors. It was Polanski's first feature film. Two of the actors (Jolanta Umecka, who plays Krystyna and Zygmunt Malanowicz, who plays the young man) had virtually no previous professional acting experience. Krzysztof Komeda composed the film's music and the featured saxophonist was the Swede Bernt Rosengren.
Knife in the Water was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1963 Academy Awards. It brought Polanski the cover of Time[1] (previous to Knife in the Water, he had only made short films). It is sometimes referred to as one of the best debut feature films in history (alongside Citizen Kane by Orson Welles and Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard). The film won the Golden Wolf at the 1963 Bucharest Film Festival
