MovieChat Forums > Feux rouges (2004) Discussion > Resemblances to Knife in the Water

Resemblances to Knife in the Water

posted 16 years ago by Vartanyan
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Saw this film for the first time just now. Genuinely intrigued and very impressed by the second half of the film being portrayed as the protagonist's alternate reality (just like in one of my favorite films, Once Upon a Time in America).

Anyway, other than this similarity to OUTA, the film is reminiscent of Polanski's debut classic, Knife in the water. The marriage is a facade of normalcy, with repressed and unfulfilled Freudian desires boiling under the surface, just like the couple's marriage in KitW. Antoinne wants to assert his freedom and can't stand being the underdog in his marriage. Along with his freedom, he wants to assert his male dominance, which is finally manifested in the brutal murder of the hitchhiker. KitW also has the famous hitchhiker as one of its main characters and Andrjez also feels like he has to prove his superiority to this hitchhiker.

The female roles in both movies are also similar: Towards the end of KitW, Crystyna is unfaithful to her husband when she makes love to the hitchhiker. Now, while I'm not comparing lovemaking and rape, you can still argue that Helene has become "unfaithful" to her husband when she was raped by the fugitive/hitchhiker, especially since it was her who ultimately decided to abandon Antoinne. Finally, both movies involve some kind of physical journey: in "Red Lights," it was a road trip; in KitW, it was a sailing expedition.

I can't help but think that this resemblance was intentional (especially among all the other homages that the director pays to classic thrillers)--in which case, the director deserves even more props for this recycling but remarkably original film. What do you guys think?

[–] TemporaryOne-1 11 years ago

Agreed 100%In both films the husbands fight over control of the carIn both films the couples spend much time deadlocked in silence, frozenBoy is named Boy and the Fugitive is named "Man on the Run" (nameless, nomadic, Polanski trademark)Feux Rouges is about "Manhood Stripped", Knife On The Water is also partially about "Manhood Stripped", and there is an irony with both film titles: Knife is usually associated with manhood and masculinity and power, Knife is an extension of a man's "manhood", and the phrase "Red Lights" is usually associated with manhood and masculinity and power: "Red Lights" mean strip clubs, gentleman's clubs, red light districts, bars, etc, all extensions of man's "manhood". Yet in both films the leading men are stripped of their manhood. That which is supposed to empower them emasculates them instead.In both films victims become victimizers and victimizers become victims, and masters become servants and servants become masters (Polanski trademark)Claustrophobia and paranoia and a persecution complex permeate both films (Polanski trademark)Triangular relationships in both films (Polanski trademark)Feux Rouges features train stations (Polanski trademark)In both films, each person is uninhibited by daily routines, all six people are unrestrained, all six have broken free of their daily routinesThin, knife-like ribbons of road with nothing but blackness beyond parallels thin, knife-like boat with nothing but sea beyondIn both films, the knife-life journeys have two edges - smooth and deadly: the journeys shift between smoothing over the marital issues and battering those issues to deathIn Noz W Wodzie, one of the song lyrics is we don't confuse the day with the night, the tick-tock of pendulums carried you which mirrors the experiences of the husband in Feux Rouges, he confuses day with night and night with day and is carried through the idyllic dream-like town by the striking of the clock....Both films feature experimental camera angles