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Dirk Bogarde,
Dirk Bogarde,
Sarah Miles,
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:
Joseph Losey,
Joseph Losey
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: Not Rated
: Anchor Bay
: Drama, Foreign, British Drama, UK
: 115 min.
: English
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Wealthy wastrel James Fox hires insouciant cockney Dirk Bogarde as a valet. No sooner has he donned his working clothes than Bogarde begins exercising a subtle but insidious control over his master. Suggesting that the house could use a little fixing up, Bogarde nearly bankrupts Fox with expensive new furnishings. But this is just a warm-up session for Bogarde, who by mid-film is calling all the shots in the Fox household, all the while pretending to keep his place. Fox's fiance Wendy Craig sees through Bogarde's game. To keep Craig at arm's length, Bogarde brings his own lady friend Sarah Miles into the house. At Bogarde's insistence, Miles seduces Fox, thereby loosening Craig's hold on the confused young man. And so it goes. The homosexual subtext of The Servant disturbed some of the more hidebound critics of 1963; Harold Pinter based his cryptic screenplay on a novel by Robin Maugham. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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| Not to be missed!
by AWalter
October 30, 2004 - 1:22 PM PDT
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4 out of 5 members found this review helpful
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| The collaboration on this film between American expatriate Joseph Losey and playwright Harold Pinter resulted in one of the great claustrophobic, psychological suspense films. The wonderful, strong characters and the theatrical nature of the script place the film alongside the best films of Polanski and Bergman, and the seedy but riveting psychological games played here are reminiscent of films like those of Atom Egoyan as well as Lynch's BLUE VELVET, Cronenberg's DEAD RINGERS, or that underappreciated gem APARTMENT ZERO. THE SERVANT will get under your skin within the first 15 minutes, and you're lucky if it doesn't stay there for days after. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.48)
52 Votes
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