Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Joseph Losey
Cast
Dirk Bogarde,
James Fox,
Sarah Miles,
Wendy Craig,
Catherine Lacey,
Richard Vernon
Genre
Drama
Tony, a decadent London aristocrat, hires a servant to attend to his needs. Soon, the balance of power starts to shift causing the servant to be sent away, but his influence extends farther than Tony thought. This battle between servant and master redefines each man's understanding of fear, desire, and class.
CineVue
Fox and Bogarde bounce sharp dialogue back and forth and are captivating as the psychosexual tension increases between them. Through subtle visual clues Losey artfully blurs sexual boundaries to create one of cinema’s most memorable relationships.
Total Film
Losey creates an atmosphere of deepening claustrophobic menace shot through with episodes of savage black humour.
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Glaciers might be melting, the polar caps might be crumbling, but not even the passage of half a century has taken the frozen edge off this brilliantly icy film.
Time Out London by Tom Huddleston
It’s one of the most insightful films ever made about the British class system.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
It is a brilliant, subversive account of class relations and the changing times.
CineVue by Leigh Clark
Fox and Bogarde bounce sharp dialogue back and forth and are captivating as the psychosexual tension increases between them. Through subtle visual clues Losey artfully blurs sexual boundaries to create one of cinema’s most memorable relationships.
Total Film by Philip Kemp
Losey creates an atmosphere of deepening claustrophobic menace shot through with episodes of savage black humour.
The New York Times
Its account of patrician degradation will cause you to blink your eyes. Although it is only fiction, it wafts a thick and acrid air of smoldering truth.
Village Voice by Zachary Wigon
Mixing techniques as surely as it mixes class (graceful dolly shots are placed side by side with the handheld photography), the picture's clever formalist juxtapositions evoke the hysterical confusion of a culture in upheaval.
The New York Times by Bosley Crowther
Its account of patrician degradation will cause you to blink your eyes. Although it is only fiction, it wafts a thick and acrid air of smoldering truth.
Variety
The Servant is for the most part strong dramatic fare, though the atmosphere and tension is not fully sustained to the end.
Variety by Staff [Not Credited]
The Servant is for the most part strong dramatic fare, though the atmosphere and tension is not fully sustained to the end.
Empire by Adam Smith
Certainly difficult to define, this period piece messes with genres, power relationships and your head.
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