Until
it was destroyed during the German occupation the Polish film industry was
based in Warsaw, after the war it was reinvigorated and recreated in Lodz as the
National Film School attracting many aspiring young filmmakers. One of these
was an ambitious young fellow called Roman Polanski who made a short film
called Two Men and a Wardrobe (1958) which
gained him considerable recognition, a film that was described as 'social
realism', he graduated the following year.
Film
making in Poland at this time was governed by the Ministry of Culture and
permission had to be sought to allow Polanski to make his first feature film Knife
in the Water (1962). As finance was a problem, which obviously
restricted the budget, Polanski decided to use only three actors and a limited
location, in this case a large lake! Originally not given permission to make
the movie in his homeland, Polanski travelled to France where he made a couple
of short films. A year later he was to return to Poland and resume his plan to
make what would become his debut feature film and one that was first seen in
the West at the 1962 Venice Film Festival, a year later it was nominated for
Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards - the first Polish picture to
receive this kind of recognition. The
movie was co written by Polanski, Jerzy Skolimowski, who was responsible for
directing Deep
End in 1970, and Jakub Goldberg who after being forced to leave Poland
became a lecturer at the film academy in Copenhagen.
 |
| Krystyna. |
 |
| Andrzej. |
A
married couple Andrzej and Krystyna are driving to a lake to go sailing when a
young man suddenly appears in the roadway thumbing a lift. After nearly running
him down Andrzej invites the young man to join them on their boat. A little
reluctantly, as he knows nothing about sailing, the hitchhiker accepts the
offer. Rivalry and sexual tension develop as the two headstrong men vie for the
attentions of Krystyna.
 |
| Tension rises! |
Cast
as Andrzej, a red bourgeoisie sports journalist, is Leon Niemczyk the only
professional actor in the film, the 'young man' is played by Zygmunt
Malanowicz, a product of a Polish acting school, in his debut film who went on
to make a total of 30 movies. Andrzej's wife, Krystyna, is played by another
debut appearance in the form of Jolanta Umecka who was discovered by the
director at a public swimming pool, incidentally becoming the first Polish
actress to take her clothes off on screen.
These new actors were helped by the fact that Polanski was an actor and
was happy to demonstrate his requirements. Filming was a problem because the film was shoot in very cramped
conditions, it was difficult for the crew to work and they would spend a lot of
the time hanging over the edge of boat. The clever use of silence and Christopher
Komeda’s brilliantly composed jazzy soundtrack became a very important part of
the films makeup which showed emotion in imagery rather than dialogue.
 |
| Who will Krystyna choose? |
Completed
Polish films were to be shown to the same Ministry politicians that granted the
original permissions before it could be released. It passed this test with very
little changes and went on to be the vanguard of what was recognised as the
beginning of the New Polish Cinema. Although successful, Polanski who had
attracted a worldwide art house following left the country of his birth because
of the animosity shown by Poland's ruling elite. He went on to make three films
in England including Repulsion
(1965) and Cul-de-sac
(1966).
