Rating: 
Summary: Shades of grey
Review: At their best, Joseph Losey's films are as sleek and sexy as the cool jazz he uses in many of them. "The Servant," one of his best known films, is most famous as the first of the director's collaborations with playwright Harold Pinter. Its success rescued Losey from years of blacklisting and his disastrous experiences on a film he personally valued more, "Eva." The film is also famous for Dirk Bogarde's performance as the butler-you-love-to-hate, Hugo Barrett. A successful matinee idol, Bogarde insisted on appearing in a series of commercially risky, but artistically daring productions, of which "The Servant" is one of the first. Like Kubrick's "Lolita," "The Servant" was made at a time when it was possible for filmmakers to flirt with previously forbidden topics (pedophilia in the first, sadomasochism in the second) as long as they suggested more than they showed. The indirection works to the advantage of both. "The Servant" is an insidious movie that works on your imagination far more effectively than an explicit exploration of the subject. The relationship between Hugo and his master Tony is never much more than a gradual, vaguely deepening dependency. That makes the action much more plausible and frightening. As Hugo slowly takes control of Tony's life, we watch in horrified fascination, desperate to stop it, but powerless to do so. Much like Alfred Hitchcock, Losey's films exploit fear as much as desire, although that's where the similarities end. Hitchcock makes you nervous, but you always know the cause of the trouble, and you're ultimately brought safely home. Losey's films rarely locate their source of fear, and you're seldom let off the hook. Hitchcock alternates bravura suspense sequences with sophisticated comedy. Most of Losey's films are notoriously humorless, slowly building tension, never quite letting go, so that by the end you're likely to feel worked over. But worked over by a master. Be warned: if you find yourself watching "The Servant" beyond the first quiet, slinky scene between Barrett and Tony, you are almost certainly trapped. Even if you reject what you see, you're unlikely to turn away. Once Losey's feline, sensuous style has its claws in you, you'll watch the film slither through to the bitter end, almost in spite of yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterpiece of BW Cinema
Review: Bogarde is spectacular as the decadent manservant. The film is an aesthetic romp of psychological plays. Dark, intense, certainly not funny, yet entertaining as can be. A wonderful scary view into the bizzare dark side of decadent humanity. Subtle undertones of sexual perversion, love and attraction between the men. A cinematic masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: who's the master, who's the servant?
Review: Dirk Bogarde is great in this role!! Role reversal,(or was it role rectification?)
Rating:
Summary: This is an overlooked gem
Review: I saw this movie in a film class at UCLA and I loved it. It's surprising that it isn't more well-known and I'm disappointed that the VHS version isn't being produced anymore. I hope that it comes out on DVD soon and is rediscovered. It is a really unsual and funny film. It's a great social satire and the payoff at the end is wonderful. Pinter's stylized dialogue matches perfectly with Losey's weird visuals. Whoever controls this movie should re-release it.
Rating:
Summary: Joseph Losey's masterpiece
Review: Joseph Losey overtook the landmark with this corrupt,sordid,struggling and deacednt gotic atmosphere created where the human condition exposes all its nasty nakedness.
Harold Pinter and Losey worked in other themes like Accident but I've never seen any other film with the only exceptions of Mephisto and Vatel such kind of perversion level.
Losey never before directed so well any other film. It deserves to mention a very usual forgotten film of Losey : Mr. Klein where Losey intends a close approach but the script doesn't help him due its predictableness.
Bogarde as the servant makes the greatest role of his winner career; James Fox also shares honors and Wendy Craig is worthy too.
Losey made a celebration film ; not only you remember Welles (The stranger) ,the sinister shadows of the glorius age of german expressionism (Murnau and Wiene) but the employement of the famous crossed mirror image sequence , so many times adapted for a lot of film makers of second rate.
This is not only a cult movie; it's a reference example for all those people interested in how to make a film, but also a must for those cinema lovers and even a sociological study of the fall of the will and slow process of moral decay in any age; it's a no mercy view of the brittish society in that unusual decade.
It's not for all tastes, but you are in front (in my personal opinion) of the most sinister movie made in the sixties and one of the best in Brittish filmography ever filmed.
Overwhelming!
Rating:
Summary: stick with it
Review: Losey's "The Servant" is a film you really have to stick with in order to get to the meat and potatoes. It's almost like two movies in one. It opens up innocently enough, with Dirk Bogarde (Hugo) coming to playboy Tony's (James Fox in a performance that oscillates between being mind numbingly annoying to heart rendingly pitiable) house, offering to be his servant. From there it will take the viewer awhile to understand just how sinister and depraved Bogarde's Hugo is--for a good part of the film he just seems to be a confused, buffoonish servant trying to do his job. From there things get really, really sick.
Co-dependency, class struggle, loneliness, alcoholism and finally madness dominate the house as Bogarde accomplishes a slick mastery of Tony's psyche and then his life. He gets the weak minded and wealthy playboy to cheat on his fiancee, and then takes advantage of the ruins his life is left in afterward. By the end of the film you know everything is screwed in a royal (no pun intended) way. Sickness and betrayal crawl from every frame of the last half an hour, and the transformation the film undergoes is unbelievably well done.
You really don't know who to sympathize with, since the only character with a single intent and purpose is Tony's fiancee who quickly flees when the situation essentially becomes an orgy of broken minds and hearts. This as good and creepily understated a film as Alfred Hitchcock ever made. A must see.
Rating:
Summary: A MENTAL BUNGIE JUMP
Review: Now, while I love you alone
Now, While I love you alone
Now, While I love you, can't love without you
Must love without you, alone. This movie has haunted me since I first saw it at about age 6 (autisitic aunt babysat and was a fan of this genre of movies), had me feeling stranger than I did when I first saw Sean Connery walk out of the shower with a towel rapped around him, Hairy chest exposed (also at age 6). As a young adult, I frequented Rue Des Ecoles In Paris, with my film noir movie pass (and I brought along an occassional buddy) and this movie still made me feel like I'm taking a head trip to the edge, and I love it. Its a sensory overload of how far folk can bend you, if you let them. It begs to ask the individual: Is your mental castle made of stone or sand? Is your fort protected against insidious invasion? The message I get from this film: Some open their door to dangerous diversions out of boredom and curiosity; don't be tempted by the pretty wrapping, sometimes it's better to keep your dead-bolt on the doors, kill the messenger and burn the message. If you like weird movies, I recommend one I was in (Inadvertantly-just backdrop), Mondo New York; brace yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Who knew codependence could be this hot?
Review: Supremely dark Losey film starring the incomparable Dirk Bogarde, who takes what you think is going to be a routine "blank-FROM-HELL" role and turns it completely on it's head, insinuating everything and doing nothing overt..... making what he actually does so much more deliciously evil. Some of the shots here are instanious classics and still amaze (the shot of James Fox and his fiance busting Bogarde and his sister, revealing only a continually clarifying silhouette of Bogarde standing naked on the stair landing, while Fox stares up, both appalled and enthralled; Fox's shivering silhouette as he hides from Bogarde behind a shower curtain in a deceptively innocent "game"). Pinter's script is admirably daring, though it does turn a bit too fast from melodrama to allegory for my taste --- it's still Pinter, and all the more brilliant for it regarding pace, timing, and -- of course -- dialogue.
Rating:
Summary: All-time British classic
Review: The social metaphors may be a little worn nowadays, but Joseph Losey's film has lost none of its drama and intensity. Dirk Bogarde stars as the butler who responds to rather foppish architect James Fox's advertisement to find a servant. Enter Sarah Miles, and a complicated love triangle ensues. Order eventually descends into chaos as servant-master roles become blurred in this riveting allegory of social disintegration. It is the sheer brilliance of the ensemble here that makes this film a true classic: Much of the credit must go to the skillful black-and-white photography of Douglas Slocombe, one of the most talented British cinematographers of all time. Stylistically, this is quintessential sixties British realism. Also noteworthy are John Dankworth's jazz-oriented score and Harold Pinter's screenplay. It cannot be denied, however, that the film stands or falls on the strength of the performances, and the cast here are on top form, especially Bogarde in perhaps his finest role.
Rating:
Summary: Acting masterclass served on a silver tray
Review: There are no axe murderers lurking in the closet, but Joseph Losey's decadent class-struggle allegory "The Servant" matches Polanski's "Repulsion" as a classic of psychological horror. Dirk Bogarde delivers a note perfect performance as the "manservant" hired by snobby playboy James Fox (in his screen debut) to help him settle into his new upscale London digs. It soon becomes apparent (to the viewer) that this butler has a little more on the agenda than just polishing silverware and dusting the mantle. Actors talk about giving the character "an inner life"-just watch Bogarde's facial expressions and see a craftsman at work! A young (and quite alluring) Sara Miles is memorable as Bogarde's "sister" who is hired as the maid. If you've seen "Wings Of The Dove" or "Days Of Heaven" you will likely figure things out early on, but you'll enjoy the ride all the same. The expressive chiaroscuro cinematography sets an increasingly claustrophobic mood as the story progresses (Watch for the clever use of convex mirrors to "trap" the images of the principal characters). By the way, if you are a fan of 1960's British folk music, you'll want to keep your eyes (and ears) peeled for a rare, unbilled (and all-too-brief) glimpse of legendary (and reclusive) guitarist Davey Graham, playing and singing (live-not dubbed!) in a scene where James Fox walks into a coffeehouse. The DVD is bare-bones, but picture and sound are excellent. A must-see.
|
