The Servant / Joseph Losey / 1963 / 
Active Ingredients: Social criticism; Changes in cinematography
Side Effects: Romantic subplots; Reactionary philosophy?
The Servant is an astute, acerbic portrait of a country—or a least a country’s cinematic presence—in transition. In 1962 London Tony, a wealthy, lazy young lothario hires a manservant to help him arrange his home, prepare his meals and allow him to continue drinking without needing to lift finger or risk suffering societal disgrace. The film begins innocently enough, in a manner befitting the upstairs/downstairs model of previous decades. The aloof, proper new servant takes pride in his work, admirably keeping his master afloat, while Tony speaks vaguely of a future business endeavor clearing the jungles of Brazil (or is it Africa?), which will, of course, never happen. The servant is “a gentleman’s gentleman” he says, a man who maintains an impeccable presence, an immaculate exterior upon which his superiors place their confidence.
Slowly, however, the veil begins to drop, and we see a sinful underbelly which Tony is too trusting to notice. The transition comes as a bit of a shock, but director Joseph Losey aides the audience by dropping stylistic hints to the much darker tones to come. Twinned images and mirrors, as well as claustrophobic interiors and creepy, suspenseful long takes, alert us to something boiling over just beneath the mandatory social roles both master and servant must uphold. Ridiculous as they are, these roles, remnants of an older, more proper prewar time, give both men something of a purpose. But the world is changing: skirts are getting shorter and sexuality more predatory, just as Losey’s camera grows bolder and more lurid, throwing long shadows over close-ups and undoing the neat order in Tony’s life. The fragile distinction between master and servant slowly dissolves, leaving only the chaos of men without a function to play or a reputation to maintain.
Film Capsule 
Amazing film. Losey is a director who has been seriously ignored for far too long. “Accident” is an essential companion film to “The Servant”, nor would I discount his 1963 film “The Damned” which is probably the most underrated film of the ‘pure’ SF genre. If only “Eva” were available without the butchery…
Thanks for all those Losey recommendations! I’ll have to keep watching after The Servant. The Damned is a sci-fi film?
Yes, not to be confused with the later Visconti film, it was retitled “These are the Damned” in the 1964 U.S, release (on the bottom of a double biill with Hammer;s “Maniac”, if you can believe that) and rather severely cut, though there are complete prints cuts readily available. Other interesting Losey films worth seeing include his World War II era “Mr. Klein”, “The Romantic Englishwoman”, the third of his Pinter trilogy “The Go-Between” and several early noirish films he made before his blacklisting including “The Prowler” and an obscure but rather effective remake of “M” with David Wayne substituting for Peter Lorre.