Knife in the Water

Roman Polanski's sensational 1962 debut...is an example of how a superlative director makes a film from the simplest materials. Read full review

The Polish thriller that made Polanski world-famous, a taut psychological drama in which a bourgeois married couple invite a hitchhiking student for a weekend of sailing. The sea becomes an arena for desire, menace and deadly games. [19 Jan 2007, p.C3]

Polanski arrived on the scene with an almost super-human knack for tension; one of the great directorial debuts in cinema's history. Read full review

Using his naturalistic camera as though it were an outsized microscope set up to observe the odd behavior of three people completely isolated for 24 hours aboard a weekend pleasure boat, Mr. Polanski evolves a cryptic drama that has wry humor, a thread of suspense, a dash of ugly and corruscating evil — and also a measure of tedium because of the purposeful monotony of its pace. Read full review

With just three actors, a boat, and a huge expanse of water, [Polanski] and script-writer Jerzy Skolimowski milk the situation for all it's worth, rarely descending into dramatic contrivance, but managing to heap up the tension and ambiguities. Read full review

Brilliantly told and well-acted, Polanski's half tongue-in-cheek, lugubrious and sinister filmic style seemed quite refreshing at the time. Read full review

Effectively employing and expressive performances from his three actors, and subtle symbolism, Polanski fashions an engrossing drama in which the mounting sexual tension is palpable. He and his crew make remarkably resourceful use of the movie's severely confined locations, and the hand-held black-and-white camerawork is dextrous. [25 Jun 1993, p.11]

There's hardly a shot in Polanski's debut that isn't laced with purpose. [12 Jan 2013, p.10]

The sexual tensions build slowly and subtly, and when they explode into violence, it seems to be the desired result. Read full review

Coming on like an art-house Dead Calm (on which it was clearly an influence) Polanski's drama is slow-moving to the point of inertia, but patient viewers will appreciate the creeping tensions and Oedipal undertow. Not easily accessible, but a film whose scenes and themes stick with you. Read full review

Polanski over-thinks much of this film -- in the same ways that many of us may over-think the details at these moments. He reaches for a psychological instead of an active tone. But the movie still has a taut and creepy impact, like a bug crawling up your arm. [25 Oct 1991, p.F29]