Directed by:
Joseph LoseyScreenplay:
Harold PinterCinematography:
Douglas SlocombeComposer:
John DankworthCast:
Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, Sarah Miles, Wendy Craig, Catherine Lacey, Patrick Magee, Harold Pinter, John Dankworth, Richard Vernon, Gerry Duggan, Aileen Lewis (more)VOD (1)
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The prolific, ever-provocative Joseph Losey, blacklisted from Hollywood and living in England, delivered a coolly modernist shock to the system of that nation’s cinema with this mesmerizing dissection of class, sexuality, and power. A dissolute scion of the upper crust (James Fox) finds the seemingly perfect manservant (a diabolical Dirk Bogarde, during his transition from matinee idol to art-house icon) to oversee his new London town house. But not all is as it seems, as traditional social hierarchies are gradually, disturbingly destabilized. Lustrously disorienting cinematography and a masterful script by playwright Harold Pinter merge in The Servant, a tour de force of mounting psychosexual menace. (Criterion)
(more)Reviews (2)
The Servant represents honest work in the field of psychological drama, excellent acting, and very well-shot scenes, but the whole does not work as one would expect. Simply put, the script contains flaws and the characters undergo strange psychological twists and turns, and their development is equally strange and wild. It gets a 3.5-star rating and this time I lean toward the lower end of it. Overall impression: 65%.
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An interesting film that doesn't turn out the way you'd think. At first, it seems like it might even be a comedy about how the servant will help the master, but it quickly turns into a thriller where you don't know what to expect from the servant at all. But even this isn't something that the film truly gives you, because this is much more existential. It has the potential to make you discover something new every time you watch it.
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