The Servant (1963)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

Joseph Losey

Writers:

Robin Maugham (novel)
Harold Pinter (writer)

Release Date:

16 March 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

The aristocratic Tony moves to London and hires the servant Hugo Barrett for all services at home. Barrett seems to be a loyal and competent employee...

Plot Keywords:

Manservant | Lover | Bachelor | Valet | Decadence

Awards:

Won 3 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 5 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Dirk Bogarde	...	Hugo Barrett
Sarah Miles	...	Vera
Wendy Craig	...	Susan
James Fox	...	Tony
Catherine Lacey	...	Lady Mounset
Richard Vernon	...	Lord Mounset
Ann Firbank	...	Society Woman
Doris Knox	...	Older Woman
Patrick Magee	...	Bishop
Jill Melford	...	Younger Woman
Alun Owen	...	Curate
Harold Pinter	...	Society Man
Derek Tansley	...	Head Waiter
Brian Phelan	...	Man in Pub
Hazel Terry	...	Woman in Bedroom

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

30 Royal Avenue, Chelsea, London, England, UK

Company:

Springbok Productions

Trivia:

When Joseph Losey was hospitalized for two weeks during this shoot, Dirk Bogarde continued filming assisted by minute, daily instructions over the phone from Losey's hospital bed. When Losey returned to the set he did not re-shoot any of the script, much to the relief of cast and crew.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Barrett is bringing Susan and Tony their meal, the cameraman's reflection can be briefly seen in the shiny silver lid on the tray.

Soundtrack:

All Gone

Confusing, sexy and brilliant

A super, confusing but entirely visceral experience, The Servant is a rich collaboration between Pinter (the writer) and Losey. Good performances from Fox and the doyenne of the slightly barmy 60's flick, Sarah Miles are mandatory in order to keep up with the entirely convincing theatrics of Dirk Bogarde's morally abstract butler, Barrett. Losey keeps everything claustrophobic: there's also an edginess through the stiltedness of set pieces - in restaurants and bars, and even in the Mounset's country pile. The only scene which seems comfortable is the snow(fight) sequence in which Susan and Tony affirm their love - and the moral height from which Tony must fall.

Bizarrely, the film is erotic for the first half but then simply frightening for the second, the drama wound around a single moral trajectory - downwards - throughout. We are engulfed from the start with open-ended sexual permissiveness and suggestion, which runs alongside the class divide whose tension drives the drama to the same degree. In the final scenes I couldn't remove Berg's opera on Wedekind's play Lulu from my mind, given the sax-fronted jazz of John Dankworth colliding awkwardly with a simultaneous orchestral score. It's just a brilliant, original film - analysis resistant, but entirely absorbing nonetheless 8/10