Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

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.

lasttimeisaw 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.

Spikeopath The Servant is directed by Joseph Losey and adapted to screenplay by Harold Pinter from the novelette of the same name written by Robin Maugham. It stars Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Mles, Wendy Craig and James Fox. Music is by John Dankworth and cinematography by Douglas Slocombe.When well-to-do Londoner Tony (Fox) hires Hugo Barrett (Bogarde) as his manservant, he gets more than he bargained for. Especially when Hugo's sister Vera (Miles) also arrives on the scene…The Servant remains as enigmatic today as it was back on its release in the early part of the 1960s. It's a film that defies classification, that rare old cinematic treat that continues to cause debate about not only its worth as art, but also its very meaning(s). A head bothering delight that revels in toying with your perceptions as much as Hugo Barrett enjoys toying with his supposed master. Lets play master and servant - indeed.Set predominantly in the confines of Tony's swanky Chelsea abode, there's a disturbing claustrophobia that pervades the narrative, and this before we even begin to ponder the power of man, his ability to dominate and manipulate, or the reverse side that sees another's lack of ability to not succumb to the downward spiral instigated by a supposed lesser man.Sprinkled over power issues are sexual desires, obtained, unfulfilled or simmering away unspoken. As the literate screenplay comes out in sharp dialogue snatches, breaking free of Pinter's other wise cement ensconced writing, there's evidence that this is a psychological study as opposed to the class system allegory that many thought it was way back then. This really isn't about role reversal, the finale tells us that.Visually it's a box of atmospheric tricks as well. Losey and Slocombe use deep angular black and white photography to enforce the chilly dynamics at work in the story, the longer the film goes on, as it gets to the nitty gritty, the more jarring the camera work becomes – delightfully so – the house no longer an affluent person's residence, but a skew-whiff place of debauchery and mind transference. And mirrors - reflections, important and used to great effect.Some scenes are striking and rich. Hugo at the top of the stairs standing in the bedroom doorway, in silhouette, an overhead shot of Hugo and Tony playing a childlike ball game on the stairs, a sex scene on a leather chair that we don't see but understand totally. And many more as Losey finds the material that allows him to show his skills.Cast performances are across the board terrific, particularly Bogarde who gives a visual acting master class, and Fox who beautifully shifts a gear from toff twit into dependant dead beat. While Dankworth's musical accompaniments add flavour to the unfolding machinations. 9/10

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/