James Fox played the boy who raced against Tom Courtenay in Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner. He was good in that. I dont think there is much difference between Barrett and Tony. Tony was making believe he was rich and Barrett made believe he was a servant. occasionally they told the truth or rather the truth slipped out. Just lonely people being unable to find love. Its a movie you dont want to see often.

Losey and Pinter's first collaboration (they would continue their rapport in ACCIDENT 1967 and THE GO-BETWEEN 1970), THE SERVANT imposes an alluring tale of a subversive master-and- servant relationship, with heavy homo erotic undertones (the author of the source novel Robin Maugham is "defiantly homosexual") way ahead of its era, so it is time to revive this hidden gem to make it circulate to a more open-minded demography for its sheer marvelousness.A young aristocrat Tony (Fox) hired Barrett (Bogarde) as his servant to administer his house, but Barrett has his own plan to manipulate Tony to be completely reliant on him, so assisted by his complicit Vera (Miles), and hampered by Tony's supercilious fiancée Susan (Craig), it is a binge of seduction, betrayal, debauchery, drug abuse and mind games. Douglas Slocombe, the prestigious British cinematographer, brings the film to life with his ingenious camera-work, the setting is largely confined interior to Tony's residence (dominantly in the shots is a bookshelf-shape door to the living room, camouflage beyond the veneer is a running theme here), Slocombe is ravishing the eroticism and tautness by his superlative deployments with mirrors (it is in the poster!), shadows, shades (Tony's silhouette hiding behind the shower curtain during a hide-and-seek) and sublime focus-alteration, refracted by the B&W prism, the potency is mind-blowing and soul-cleansing, up to the very end, the transcendent oddity of the situation could only pique one's curiosity for more, for the imbroglio is so fascinating, so nihilistic, anticipates A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971, 8/10)'s benumbing ridicule.John Dankworth's alternately light-mood, lyric, jazz-infused and riveting score is a handsome companion to Pinter's satirical and pun-slinging screenplay (under the weather? poncho and gaucho?), when Tony addresses to Susan that "he (Barrett) looks like a fish", it hits the bull's eye. Bogarde continues his bold glass-ceiling-breaking endeavor after VICTIM (1961, 8/10), bags another self-revealing role and unleashes his nefarious audacious in the duality of Barrett's servant-and-master changeover; while his on-screen prey James Fox, who, indeed, is equally brilliant in this breakthrough picture, out of four main characters, none of them are good- natured, but he is the only one can collect viewers' sympathy, and one may not root for him, but witness his downfall nevertheless needs more than the fondness of his willowy figure and innocent eyes. Miles and Craig, the two female companions, can not receive the same laud, Miles has a strident voice and being excruciatingly annoying whenever she talks and her performance is in excess of theatricality, which luckily would tune down in her later effort in RYAN'S DAUGHTER (1970, 7/10) and THE HIRELING (1973, 6/10); Craig, whose snobbish and frigid poise is off-putting, albeit she has the most recondite sensibilities to present in the frenzied coda, the efficacy is beyond her ken.THE SERVANT may be Losey's finest work and should be appreciated more, it is a divine psychological drama with a latent homosexual struggle which perpetually beleaguers human nature and finally we reach the opportune time when we can look directly into each other's eyes without feeling ashamed or offensive anymore.

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

Sixteenth feature film by American director Joseph Losey (1909-1984), an adaptation of a novel from 1948 by British novelist and playwright Robin Maugham (1916-1981), which was written by screenwriter and playwright Harold Pinter (1930-2008), tells the story of Tony, a young and wealthy man who hires a man named Hugo Barrett to work for him as a servant at his house in London. Even though his girlfriend Susan acts with pointed prejudice towards Tony's newly hired servant and questions his character, Tony ignores this and continues his trusting friendship with the charming Hugo Barrett.This brilliantly written and directed British production, a character-driven, dialog-driven and rigorously structured study of character which portrays a fierce power struggle between a man from the upper-class and a man from the working-class, is a tense, intriguing and dramatic chamber-piece and a poignantly atmospheric Film-noir from the early 1960s with a underlining jazzy score by English Jazz composer John Dankworth (1927-2010). The noticeable black-and-white cinematography by British cinematographer Douglas Slocombe, the sarcastic humor, the pivotal use of light, the quick-witted dialog and the stellar acting performances by James Fox as the shallow and gullible Tony, Dirk Bogarde as the dutiful and articulate Hugo Barrett, Sarah Miles as the enigmatic and seductive Vera and Wendy Craig as Tony's loving and suspicious girlfriend Susan are crucial aspects which characterizes this interior thriller about the darkest sides of human nature.This BAFTA Award-winning film from the British New Wave is an internal psychological drama with an efficient shifting pace and artful milieu depictions which provides a detailed examination of the British class system. An ardent, acute and captivating masterpiece from the director who was blacklisted by Hollywood during the McCarthy Era in the 1950s for supposedly having attachments with the Communist party and exiled to England where he made most of his films.