The Servant (1963) - Dirk Bogarde / James Fox

The Servant is Harold Pinter's 1963 film adaptation of the 1948 novel by Robin Maugham. A British production directed by Joseph Losey, it stars Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, Wendy Craig, and James Fox.

The first of Pinter's three film collaborations with Losey, which also include Accident (1967) and The Go-Between (1970), The Servant is a tightly-constructed psychological dramatic film about the relationships among the four central characters examining issues relating to class, servitude, and the ennui of the upper classes.

Plot:

Tony (James Fox), a wealthy young Londoner, hires Hugo Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) as his manservant. Initially, Barrett appears to take easily to his new job, and he and Tony form a quiet bond, retaining their social roles.

Relationships begin shifting, however, and they change with the introduction of Susan (Wendy Craig), Tony's girlfriend, who seems to be suspicious of Barrett and to loathe all he represents.

Barrett brings Vera (Sarah Miles), whom he presents as his sister, into Tony's household as a maidservant, but it emerges that Vera is actually Barrett's lover.

Through Barrett's and Vera's games and machinations, they reverse roles with Tony and Susan; Tony becomes more and more dissipated, sinking further into what he perceives as their level, as the "master" and the "servant" exchange roles.

Losey's adaptation:

The Servant, a film by Joseph Losey, is adapted from Robin Maugham's short short The Servant as well, acclaimed by critics as the mark of the first of three celebrated collaborations between Losey and Harold Pinter.

Losey's other collaborations, Accident and The Go-Between, share a resemblance to The Servant in the sense that they offer the same savage indictment of the English class system and that system's waning and control of all aspects of working class Britain.

Brilliantly playing out the struggle for power and dominance, Maugham's novel adaptation is awarded the depiction of a "controversial drama" and Losey is praised for his ambitious and notable technique in this film, with a willingness to engage with issues of Great Britain that British Cinema, as before, would not face.

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