The Knack ...and How to Get It
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
This review is a part of the Palme d’Or Project: a review of every single Palme d’Or winner at Cannes Film Festival. The Knack… and How to Get It won the eleventh Palme d’Or — temporarily reverted back to the Grand Prix — at the 1965 festival.
The film was selected by the following jury.
Jury President: Olivia de Havilland (with André Maurois as Honorary President).
Vice President: Goffredo Lombardo.
Jury: Max Aub, Michel Aubriant, Rex Harrison, François Reichenbach, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Konstantin Simonov, Edmond Ténoudji, Jerzy Toeplitz.
Warning: the following review discusses sensitive subject matters like sexual abuse which may be triggering. Reader discretion is advised.
This won’t happen often, but it was bound to happen once: a not-good Palme d’Or (or Grand Prix) winner. Considering that the vast majority of these winners are decent-to-perfect, Cannes has a much better track record than, say, the Academy when it comes to selecting the best films, but not everything can age gracefully or seem appropriate from when it was first released. Case in point: if The Knack … and How to Get It wasn’t busting with such interesting cinematic ideas, I feel like it would be virtually unwatchable. There was a phase in British cinema where the Swinging 60s of London was channeled enough in motion pictures. The Academy selected their own favourite: the slightly-better Tom Jones (which is full of directions either clever or questionable). Richard Lester’s Knack is even more inventive, but arguably far worse at its lows as well; both works were produced by Woodfall Film Productions, so take from that what you will. Knack is also an incredibly problematic film that showcases sexual assault or deviances often enough without much to say about their relevance to the narrative.
Lester is more well known for his Beatles films, particularly A Hard Day’s Night, which are well made and can act as precursors to music video culture. With Knack, he’s able to go full throttle in any direction he wanted. He chose to make a film about a male teacher that longs for love that gets taught the ways to win women over. It’s as awful as it sounds already. There were times where I was furious watching Knack, because I couldn’t believe how wobbly the satire was (and I do get that this is a tongue-in-cheek film that projects its parts with hints of sarcasm, but none of it is told well enough that it matters or has something profound to say outside of men remain thirsty and women aren’t objects). At times, Knack is flat out repugnant at times, especially during its climax where the topic of rape is so mishandled, it’s actually mind boggling how this was well received upon its release, never mind how bad it looks now.
The Knack … and How to Get It is well shot, but it can’t save a highly problematic film.
The only reason why I can imagine Knack is worth watching in this day and age is a) if you want to finish watching every Palme d’Or winner (like myself), or b) if you want to see some brilliant camera trickery and postmodern imagination. Knack has these in spades, and they actually make the film easy to finish; you want to see what Lester pulls off next (if it will be the fourth wall being broken, some jump cut fun, et cetera). What relevance does this have to the subject matter? Nothing, outside of being a replication of the experimentation of the era. Otherwise, Knack is a free spirited film through and through, but that isn’t always a good thing. When you’re stuck behind gross men and the film doesn’t do enough to place you in the right gaze, it can feel like an uphill battle, despite Knack’s apparently easy-going ways. As a technical marvel, Knack is worth a watch, with some extreme caution. It is hard to deny how amusing the film is when it comes to its artistry. I wish I liked it less. If you want to get something out of The Knack …and How to Get It’s commentary on sexual exploration, I’d steer clear if I were you. You’ll only be highly offended by a film that’s well directed yet highly misguided.
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.