Accident (1967)

At Oxford, Austrian student Anna von Graz (Jacqueline Sassard) is dating fellow student William (Michael York), whom she plans to marry, but she ends up sleeping with two unhappily married Oxford professors instead.

Director:

Joseph Losey

Writers:

Nicholas Mosley (from the novel by), Harold Pinter (screenplay)

Stars:

Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Baker, Jacqueline Sassard

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dirk Bogarde	...	Stephen
Stanley Baker	...	Charley
Jacqueline Sassard	...	Anna
Michael York	...	William
Vivien Merchant	...	Rosalind
Delphine Seyrig	...	Francesca
Alexander Knox	...	Provost
Ann Firbank	...	Laura
Brian Phelan	...	Police Sergeant
Terence Rigby	...	Plain Clothed Policeman
Freddie Jones	...	Man in Bell's Office
Jill Johnson	...	Secretary
Jane Hillary	...	Receptionist
Maxwell Caulfield	...	Ted (as Maxwell Findlater)
Carole Caplin	...	Clarissa

Storyline

The Oxford Professor of Philosophy Stephen (Sir Dirk Bogarde) has two favorite pupils, the athletic aristocrat William (Michael York) and the Austrian Anna von Graz (Jacqueline Sassard). Stephen is a frustrated man, with a negligent wife, Rosalind (Vivien Merchant), who is pregnant of their third child, and is envious of the Oxford professor Charley (Stanley Baker), who has a television show. Stephen feels attracted to Anna, but William woos her and she becomes his girlfriend. Charley has a love affair with Anna, but when things go wrong, Anna must leave town.

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Plot Keywords:

oxford | cult film | university | college | cricket the sport | 

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Taglines:

The story of a love triangle ... and the four people trapped in it !

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sam Spiegel had first planned to produce this, with Richard Burton starring.

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Goofs

The Anna character is meant to be Austrian, but speaks with a (Jacqueline Sassard's native) French accent.

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Quotes

Charley: [reading from learned journal] A statistical analysis of sexual intercourse at Colenso University, Milwaukee showed... that 70% did it in the evening, 29.9% between 2 and 4 in the afternoon and 0.1% during a lecture on Aristotle.
Provost: I'm surprised to hear that Aristotle is on the syllabus in the State of Wisconsin.

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Connections

Referenced in Endeavour: Quartet (2018)

User Reviews

Interesting but flawed

First scene: a car crashes onto the side of the road. A man runs to the car lifting the glamorous female passenger out and leaving the man for dead. He seems to know the girl and he takes her back to his house. Cue flashback. 'Accident' The film's dramatic and intriguing opening lead me to expect a thriller or mystery. This is not exactly what was on offer. The tension comes from emotions, desires and inner conflicts. This is a character led film with wonderfully subtle performances and a good eye for life's little details. Dirk Bogarde is in top form as the professor whose mid-life crisis antics have tragic effects on those around him. The film has enough drama to keep your attention. The ensemble acting and editing create a sense of tension and impending doom in the banal country setting and bright weather. Ultimately though the film fails to tell a fully rounded story. At the end the fatal 'accident' loses it's impact rather than gaining any extra meaning. This is also a film with a very male perspective. The main female characters are very much stereotypes; the wife is a quiet, long suffering housewife, the professor's young and beautiful student an impenetrable femme fatale. Both characters act very much as symbols of the professor's inner struggles without very much character development. In conclusion this is an interesting way of spending a couple of hours as long as you're not looking for an enlightening or particularly pleasant view of human relationships.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 June 1967 (France)

Also Known As:

Accident

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$600,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$5,798, 25 May 2014

Gross USA:

$17,161

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$64,675

Company Credits

Production Co:

Royal Avenue Chelsea

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1