POLISH FILM ACADEMY

Roman Polanski's debut appeared on Polish screens in an atmosphere of controversy − so far did it diverge from the conventional canons of Polish cinema.

The reason for its success abroad was the attractiveness of the subject, the universal content of the film and the masterful direction of the drama between the three people, in the off-season landscape of the Masurian lakes.

A sports reporter, who is going on a one-day sailing trip on the Masurian lakes with his wife, takes a random hitchhiker. The men differ in almost everything: their economic status, age, experience and attitude to life, but they share one trait − the desire to show their superiority to an attractive young girl.

Andrzej takes a hitchhiker on board in order to boast of his power as a boat captain, the boy responds with the attitude of an “angry young man”, filled with cynicism and contempt for romantic love and money. However, this is only the external image; it is a pose that desperately conceals the jealousy and desire to own such a car, boat, girl and... money.

The boy wins this poker game of characters by bluffing. He pretends to drown as a hoax, falling into the water like the knife thrown out of his hand by Andrzej. When the reporter leaves to notify the police, the boy spends several hours alone with his wife and seduces her. In the morning, the boat stops in the marina, where Andrzej is waiting. He does not want to believe his wife's confession of infidelity.


Jan Słodowski, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996