As Kim Newman (Empire) writes: “Having attracted international attention in the early ’60s with cruelly absurdist short films (Two Men and a Wardrobe, The Fat and the Lean) about isolated characters clashing as they struggle through empty landscapes, Polanski’s first feature elaborates on the theme but with added depth of characterization. Indeed Knife in the Water is so well-written and acted you don’t notice until very late how artificial and stylized the whole set-up is.”

Knife in the Water drew a full house tonight, and we were all delighted. Is it still ok for us to love this movie? Polanski is on the “cancelled” list, in exile in Europe, having escaped prosecution in the US for feeding Quaalude to a 13-year old girl in a California swimming pool. Not cool. However, let’s remember that Knife was made under communist rule, by a very young Polanski. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.