Upper-class Tony hires servant Hugo Barrett, who turns out to have a hidden agenda.Upper-class Tony hires servant Hugo Barrett, who turns out to have a hidden agenda.Upper-class Tony hires servant Hugo Barrett, who turns out to have a hidden agenda.
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
12K
YOUR RATING
- Director
- Writers
- Harold Pinter(screenplay)
- Robin Maugham(novel 'The Servant')
- Stars
Top credits
- Director
- Writers
- Harold Pinter(screenplay)
- Robin Maugham(novel 'The Servant')
- Stars
- Won 3 BAFTA Awards
- 8 wins & 10 nominations total
Videos1
- Director
- Writers
- Harold Pinter(screenplay)
- Robin Maugham(novel 'The Servant')
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
- All cast & crew
Storyline
The aristocratic Tony (James Fox) moves to London and hires the servant Hugo Barrett (Sir Dirk Bogarde) for all services at home. Barrett seems to be a loyal and competent employee, but Tony's girlfriend Susan (Wendy Craig) does not like him, and asks Tony to send him away. When Barrett brings his sister Vera (Sarah Miles) to work and live in the house, Tony has a brief hidden affair with her. After travelling with Susan and spending a couple of days in a friend's house outside London, the couple unexpectedly returns and finds Barrett and Vera, who are actually lovers, in Tony's room. They are fired and Susan breaks with Tony. Later, Tony meets Barrett alone in a pub and hires him back, and Barrett imposes his real dark intentions in the house, turning the table and switching position with his master. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Taglines
- A Terrifyingly Beautiful Motion Picture!
- Genre
- Certificate
- Unrated
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaWhen producer and director 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.
- GoofsWhen Tony and Susan arrive at Tony's house in the Mercedes, with an extended visit in mind, they both go into the house and Tony leaves the car's lights on.
- Quotes
Hugo Barrett: I'll tell you what I am. I'm a gentleman's gentleman, and you're no bloody GENTLEMAN!
- ConnectionsFeatured in Stairs (1986)
Top review
Subtleties
If you watch closely you will find that not only does the internal decoration of the house change (in ways not included in the plot) to become gradually darker as Tony is gradually undermined and seduced by Barrett but also the excellent (but very much of its time) soundtrack by Johnny Dankworth & (surely - or is my recollection wrong?) Cleo Laine - though the same LP is put on the turntable many times, the arrangement of the same theme is different. (I did not notice this at first but found it pointed out in a special issue of the Oxford University magazine Isis at the time the film was released that was entirely devoted to it.) The film has recently reappeared in England as a stage work: Play without Words, seen at the National Theatre, is (was, I guess, is more accurate) a superb piece of dance theatre in which the ambiguities of the characters' motivations, or the discrepancies between their thoughts and actions, are portrayed by having more than one dancer per character. Sometimes only one is seen, sometimes they move in unison, sometimes in separate ways. It is extremely effective.
helpful•2715
- david-pollock
- Jan 16, 2005
Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $45,522
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,859
- Jul 28, 2013
- Gross worldwide
- $75,446
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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