The Knife 1961

Thomas Reitze van der Linden is a 13-year-old boy in Limburg who lives with his mother Ellen Vogel. Since his father’s death, his mother has begun a relationship with Oscar Paul Camermans, her late husband’s best friend. This new arrangement creates a quiet, growing tension at home, and Thomas senses a widening gap as he feels his mother might be trying to replace his dad with Oscar. The air in the house is tense, and the boy braces himself for changes he doesn’t fully understand.

At a monastery exhibition, Thomas steals an antique knife, a moment that marks a turning point in his summer. He shows it to Louise Videc, who plays Toni, in an effort to impress her and gain a sense of control. The moment reveals a boy teetering between childhood bravado and a darker curiosity, as the knife becomes a symbol of power he doesn’t quite know how to wield.

The incident with the knife sparks consequences: Thomas uses it to intimidate Oscar, and the act lands him in trouble, with Oscar confiscating the weapon. This confrontation heightens the rift in the household, pushing the mother to reveal that Thomas will be sent away to boarding school at the end of the summer. The news lands heavy on the boy, who secretly fears the loss of his home and the people who occupy it.

With summer stretching ahead, Thomas spends his days with Toni, visiting the fair and exploring De Valken, a territory controlled by the local youth. On their first trip there, Thomas faces public humiliation from other boys, a moment that wounds his pride and hardens his resolve. In a bid for revenge, he secretly gets the knife back, vowing to use it as a shield against what he perceives as threats to his fragile sense of security.

Meanwhile, Oscar’s relationship with the mother grows strained. His evenings spent at the local pub begin to cast a shadow over the couple’s reputation, adding another layer of pressure on Thomas and his already fragile home life. The tension between love, loyalty, and the mess of growing up intensifies as the summer wears on.

On the second trip to De Valken, Thomas and Toni witness a sexual assault. Toni is repulsed by what she sees, while Thomas is oddly fascinated, a difference that hints at the diverging paths their lives might take. When Toni confronts him about it, he responds with a playful threat using his knife, a moment that underscores how dangerous his newfound edge has become.

One evening, Thomas witnesses a heated argument between his mother and Oscar. Feeling unwelcome and unsettled, he runs away and spends the night in a barn, where he has a dream in which his father shoots him. The next day, a villager finds him and brings him back home, leaving the boy to face the consequences of his actions and the fragility of the family he’s trying to hold together.

Back at home, his mother apologizes for having abandoned him and explains that he is too young to understand why she’s making difficult choices, hinting that Oscar’s influence is part of the reason she wants a fresh arrangement. A few days later, Thomas leaves for boarding school, stepping toward a new chapter he believes he’s ready to face.

On the road, Reitze van der Linden gives voice to a quiet self-awareness as Thomas reflects that he is ready for the next phase of his life. He asserts that he has outgrown Toni and the knife, signaling a painful but necessary shift from the boy who experimented with danger to a young person reckoning with the consequences of his actions. This is a story of a fragile family, a boy’s uneasy navigation between loyalty and autonomy, and the way a single summer can redefine what it means to grow up.