The prolific, ever provocative Joseph Losey, blacklisted from Hollywood and living in England, delivered a coolly modernist shock to the system of that nation’s cinema with this mesmerizing dissection of class, sexuality, and power. A dissolute scion of the upper crust (James Fox) finds the seemingly perfect manservant (a diabolical Dirk Bogarde, during his transition from matinee idol to art-house icon) to oversee his new London town house. But not all is as it seems, as traditional social hierarchies are gradually, disturbingly destabilized. Lustrously disorienting cinematography and a masterful script by playwright Harold Pinter merge in The Servant, a tour de force of mounting psychosexual menace.
FILM INFO
- United Kingdom
- 1963
- 115 minutes
- Black & White
- 1.66:1
- English
- Spine #1182
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New program on director Joseph Losey by film critic Imogen Sara Smith
- Rare interview from 1976 with Losey by critic Michel Ciment
- Interview from 1996 with screenwriter Harold Pinter
- Interviews with actors Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, Sarah Miles, and Wendy Craig
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by author Colm TóibÃnNew cover by Sterling Hundley
