Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

Lawbolisted Powerful

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Frances Chung Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

elvircorhodzic THE SERVANT is a psychological drama, which examines relations and customs of high society in London. This is a film about social degradation, in which, we can feel, through fictional fog, a bitter truth.A rich young man hires a cockney as his manservant. No sooner has he donned his working clothes a servant begins exercising a subtle but insidious control over his master. However, the two men form a quiet bond, until a master's fiancée does no doubt the behavior of a tricky servant. A servant brings his own lady friend, whom he presents as his sister, into his master household as a maidservant. At his insistence, she seduces a young master...Most protagonists exhibit strange charm and treachery at the same time, which gives a special tone to this film. The emotions are divided between frustration and jealousy. A kind of trap for a master by his servant is poisoned by a small amount of a tense eroticism and hedonistic madness. The anxiety of a wealthy eccentric, comes to the fore in those moments.That dirty game, which leads to destruction, does not corresponds with a warmth of interiors. It is also an ironic reference to the class history and tradition.Characterization is very good. The photography fully corresponded to a melancholic soundtrack.Dirk Bogarde as Hugo Barrett is a charming and cunning servant. His sadistic and vengeful instincts contribute to that destructive moment. He is a victim of his own madness, in which he shows all his weaknesses. James Fox as Tony, a young master, is a personification of a failed ambition, arrogance, immaturity, indecision and helplessness at the end. Wendy Craig as Susan Stewart is a strong and stubborn young woman, who is lost in her pride and dignity. However, she shows a single dose of helpless pathos while flees to salvation. Sarah Miles as Vera is a "prisoner" of a dirty game.When common sense flees through the door, it is enough to turn off the light.

Frances Farmer This movie has so much going for it one hardly knows where to begin. The tale is simple enough... a handsome, boyish aristocrat courting alcoholism and marriage at the same time inherits a large fortune following his father's death. This requires him to take a house in London and, with the house, a manservant to run things. Enter Dirk Bogarde's Barrett, who initially seems innocuous enough. Sharp witted, polished and able, Barrett takes charge of all his master's domestic details with aplomb and the partnership between the two seems at first to go off swimmingly. Quickly enough, though, the contempt felt for Barrett by the master's fiancée (Wendy Craig as the implacably shrewish Susan) sets things on a dangerous downward path leading James Fox's Tony, by degrees, into an inferno of self destruction.The acting is uniformly superb. Bogarde is a marvel, as usual... here he is sly, devilish, calculating several moves ahead of his putative boss as he engineers a quiet and invidious sort of mayhem. Sarah Miles plays a seemingly idiotic coquette who exercises total command of the proceedings behind a succession of cunning masks. James Fox handles his transformation from n'eer do well gentleman to something out of a painting by Goya or Francis Bacon with great finesse.The cinematography and editing are beautiful and greatly contribute to the strained and intensely suspenseful atmosphere pervading this movie. The only weak point in the whole thing, and it is a minor weakness, is the overuse of one song throughout the movie. The producers should have splurged a bit more on the music or kept it more unobtrusive.I think "The Servant" was the inspiration, at least partly, for several other works I previously enjoyed. If this movie had never been made, would we have ever had Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" or Pasolini's "Teorema" or Tennessee Williams' short story, "The Killer Chicken and the Closet Queen"? I'm not sure but they all seem to flow from this amazing source in one way or another.

TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews Barrett(Bogarde) starts working as a servant for the aristocratic and flamboyant playboy, Tony(Fox), and over time, their relationship changes and they swap roles and the balance of power is successfully shifted. The acting is incredible, with both of these leads, as well as the women they are joined by, Vera(Miles), Hugo's sister, and Susan(Craig), the master's girlfriend, who has shares a mutual resentment with the titular personage, all delivering subtle, vivid and impactful performances. Only gradually do we realize what is actually going on, and both when we think one thing and find out another, we believe these people. The hints of homosexuality are well-handled and add another layer to the manipulation. This is about the English class system and its imminent dissolution(at the time of its production), and I understand that it's not the only of such by Losey. With moody lighting, clever, lingering filming(with some nicely set up shots that show a mirror image or shadow) and smooth editing, this is expertly put together. The tension is smothering in how thick and prevalent it is. All of the music is perfectly chosen, changing in tone with the interiors of the newly furnished and painted house, as the alteration takes place. It's a very sensuous and sexy movie, without being explicit. The DVD comes with an interesting 21 minute Ian Christie's analysis of the picture(an interview intercut with clips), a 3 minute theatrical trailer, and a moderately sized photo gallery. I recommend this to anyone mature enough to appreciate it. 8/10

Boba_Fett1138 Even though I have seen sort of similar movies, you could still really call this movie an original and special one.It's a movie that I foremost liked for its subtlety. The way it's build up is absolutely great. It's often a slowly progressing movie, with still plenty going on in it. The movie manages really well to create a sense of mystery and tension, since you never really know what direction the story will be heading into. It's a movie that is actually mostly being build up and constructed as a drama but it has lots of different thriller elements thrown into it as well. All of these thriller elements actually work out so well because the movie is getting told and being constructed as a not everyday- or ordinary thriller.The movie has plenty of twists in it and mostly leaves you guessing till the end, what the true motives and plans of certain characters are. This ensures that the movie is a great one to watch, from still till finish. Well, almost!During its last half hour, or so, the movie was kind of starting to loose me. It was going a bit overboard with certain aspects, which went at the expense of some of the movie its credibility. I didn't mind its twist or developments but I did minded the way they were getting handled. For me it was a bit too much and not really in tone with the rest of the movie.Visually its a great looking movie. It's shot completely in black & white, which does truly add a lot to its atmosphere. Besides, the cinematography is done by perhaps one of the best cinematographers of all time Douglas Slocombe. It's also an incredibly detailed looking movie. It's almost an artistic one at times, with its complexity of certain shots. Perhaps you won't even notice all of it on your first viewing, simply because you're wrapped up too much into its story.Its a quite small and simplistic British production but this only once again proofs that all, that you foremost need, to make a good movie with, is a good and interesting main concept and a well written script. It also helps, in this particular case, that it has some pretty good actors involved. Dirk Bogarde plays a beautiful dark role. James Fox is also really good, who is better known for the roles later in his career.Despite its, in my opinion, weaker final 30 minutes, it still is a movie I can truly recommend!7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/