Lincoln Center is in the midst of an overarching Joseph Losey retrospective, showing films from his pre-Blacklisted Hollywood period, through to his adaptations of Don Giovanni, and Brecht’s Galileo.
I’ve been interested in Losey since I first saw the second of his three collaborations with Harold Pinter, Accident (1967), a marvel of the 60’s Euro Art Cinema: cold, elaborately structured, cruel. Since then I’ve seen the other two Losey did with Pinter, The Servant (1962) and The Go-Between (1971) and they’re worthy of a little discussion.
The Servant is the one that made Losey a star. Before, he was well appreciated by good auteurists like Andrew Sarris and the Cahiers du Cinema crew, but from what I understand, this one brought him to the widest attention. The film is well steeped in the sorts of class struggle which brought Losey under the eyes of the Committee for Un-American Activities, and led to his fleeing America for Europe in order to continue to make films in early 50’s. Dirk Bogarde stars, as he does in Accident, as Hugo, a servant hired to attend to a Tony, a young, well to do Englishman, played by James Fox. Bogarde’s performance is uncanny, he moves between well-mannered butler and low-born brute within the same scene, as he slowly works his way into the household, bringing his wife Vera, played by Sarah Miles in as maid to seduce Tony. The class element seems to have some slightly politically allegorical overtones, an article in Senses of Cinema points in this direction, but the tension between the two men seems more universal.
The seduction highlights what ties all three films together: sex as a weapon. In The Servant the seduction is used to throw off the power dynamic between master and servant, though Tony employs Hugo, Hugo can manipulate Tony through Vera. In Accident two professors are tied within their contempt for each other through a student, whom both have been fucking. This thematic plays a somewhat minor, but important role in The Go Between: a young boy, the “go-between” of the title tries to use his privileged position as secret messenger to learn about sex from one of the two persons between whom he is passing letters. This variety of cruelty ought be no surprise to readers of Pinter (The Homecoming, The Birthday Party) who specializes in men finding ways to destroy each other. The menace of The Servant even finds its way into the set design, in that the very furniture of the house oppresses the characters. Characters are routinely overshadowed by the massiveness of the pieces of furniture, they fight over who has the right to control the way the house is to be decorated. The set pieces are cold, solid and omnipresent, while the characters themselves are often awkward, fickle and nervous: the seduction scene between Tony and Vera is by no means graceful, the tenaciousness and awkward hesitancy of Vera would almost be comic were Losey not cutting between a dripping faucet that becomes louder and louder through the course of the scene. The pair, sweat in discomfort, and fumble on tables, with the metal of the kitchen contrasting the skin and lumps of the lovers. When the film “turns”, and the power relationship between the two men shifts, you can see it manifested in the condition of the house itself, what was formerly immaculately kept, has gone to ruin and disorder; Hugo and Tony play vaguely sadistic games amongst clutter and filth.
Compared with Accident and The Servant, The Go-Between is a minor film, it takes place primarily on an estate in the English countryside, and has a few of the class issues prominent in The Servant, but aside from a few choice moments, the film rests awkwardly in its framing device: an old pair, sorta remembering a summer in their youth, which only really breeds confusion and anachronism (“Huh? Why is there a TV in late, vaguely Victorian England? Oh, right, we’re flashing forward.”) It’s the last film they did together, and in my mind is well overshadowed by the other two. But those earlier two are masterworks of subtle emotional evisceration.
I've always much preferred "The Servant" to "The Accident"--maybe just because it's less subtle. I love the creepy development of the Bogarde character as he slowly takes total control. It's a great movie.
Still, my favorite Pinter screenplay of all is that for "Turtle Diary."
Posted by: walto at May 21, 2004 3:42 PMHave never seen "The Accident" (out on DVD? I doubt it - let's all go to imdb.com & find out), but was blown away by "The Go Between". Not normally a Pinter fan either; he's always struck me as a second division Beckett. Which is probably a little unfair.
Posted by: dan warburton at May 21, 2004 10:33 PMFWIW, I do think that assessment of Pinter is unfair. It's probably true that in his early stuff he cribbed [pause] too much [pause] from Beckett. But he certainly developed his own voice over time. And (though I'm no expert) I don't know of too many playwrights with a comparably-sized body of excellent work.
Posted by: walto at May 22, 2004 7:12 AMimho, by FAR the *best* Losey flick is "Modesty Blaise".
Posted by: uli at May 22, 2004 10:40 AMHaven't seen that one since school daze.. couldn't even remember the director. Hey, talking of Beckett, is his "Film" with Buster Keaton out on DVD over your side of the pond?
Point taken about Beckett / Pinter Walt. You're right - he did evolve.
Dan -- there's a version of the Beckett / Keaton collaboration available from these DVD-R vendors:
http://www.5minutestolive.com/
http://www.5minutesonline.com/1D/FILM.htm
Bootleg? I honestly don't know...
Posted by: Joe Milazzo at May 24, 2004 12:00 PMThanks Joe. "5minutestolive.com" - Beckett would have loved that
Posted by: dan warburton at May 24, 2004 9:07 PMRegarding 5minutesto live:
I ordered all 9 Lost and Found DVDs about 6 months ago and have yet to receive them. About two months ago I received a message saying that there was a delay because they'd just moved offices, but I've not heard anything since, no matter how frequently I try to contact them.
Posted by: Steven Morgan at October 2, 2006 8:22 AMWhat about "Eve" in the version that Losey intended before the Hakim brothers cut it to pieces? That film is a great, lost masterpiece.
Posted by: nicholas ashton at July 7, 2008 9:52 AMOld thread - since 2004 a lot of these films have come out on DVD: I have a 7 DVD box with Eve, The Criminal, Accident, The Servant, King and Country, Monsieur Klein and The Go Between (+ a whole DVD documentary on Losey). Whether that version of Eve is the one you're on about, Nicolas, I don't know. But I've changed my opinion on Pinter as stated above - his screenplays are excellent. And Dirk Bogarde is sensational.
Posted by: Dan Warburton at July 7, 2008 11:03 AMMany thanks, Dan for your information.
Sadly, that version is the theatrical release after 20 minutes were cut, lines redubbed and the music remixed. In Michael Ciment's excellent "Conversations with Losey", the director describes - with acute bitterness - the extent of the "alterations".
It is still a marvellous film, though, and I think Moreau and Stanley Baker give the performances of their careers, demonstrating that Losey was by far - the finest actors' director (depending on the quality of the actor) working in the 1960s. The scenes with Vivien Merchant and Dirk Bogarde in "Accident" speak volumes about marital problems with such few, but poignant lines - Pinter's special gift, of course!
Posted by: nicholas ashton at July 8, 2008 2:29 AMMine's a Studio Canal (ie French) 8 (not 7) disc set, and I seem to recall some mention of the cuts you refer to - though I haven't seen Eve for over a year and a half now. I do recall though being less impressed by Moreau (or maybe it was just the whole plot) than I was in other films (love her in La Notte, and Journal of a Chambermaid, for example). But certainly time to go back and watch some of them again. I like Baker very much, in both The Criminal and Accident - great pairing with Bogarde.
On re-reading Nirav's original text above, I'm not sure I agree with that description of The Go Between as "minor", compared to The Servant and Accident. Bates and Christie are outstanding (so is Fox).
Bogarde and Baker loathed each other, apparently! Of course, that often generates great screen chemisry... talking of Jeanne Moreau, I do so much agree with you in the two films you mention - the long wordless, listless walk through Milan in the former and the stately high-heeled ones in the latter are unforgettable. I once saw her on stage in a monologue play called "la recite de la servante Zerline" by Heiner Mueller which combined great savagery ( a mimed strike across a face) with a wistful recollection of the Bunuel servant in "la journal d'une femme de chambre". I wish we could have such marvellous actors today!
Posted by: nicholas ashton at July 8, 2008 7:56 AMPinter's a great screenwriter, see also his original script for the French Lieutenant's Woman, much better than the novel, it also seemed much better than the movie, but maybe that's because Meryl Streep's acting automatically de-emancipates her character ...
Pinter's Proust script also is great, don't think it ever has been filmed, but this is full of hints at a vast world behind it.
I don't actually like his plays, but his film scripts, where he can handle place at will like it were an actor, are great literature ...
Pinter's a great screenwriter, see also his original script for the French Lieutenant's Woman, much better than the novel, it also seemed much better than the movie, but maybe that's because Meryl Streep's acting automatically de-emancipates her character ...
Pinter's Proust script also is great, don't think it ever has been filmed, but this is full of hints at a vast world behind it.
I don't actually like his plays, but his film scripts, where he can handle place at will like it were an actor, are great literature ...
Ah, someone out there should revitalise the Proust adaptation. Its is literally all there and ready to be realised. if I had the money I'd produce it myself and if I had the talent I'd direct it!
You have sensitivity to Pinter's gifts as a screen writer so it can only be a matter of a good stage production that revitalises your enthusiasm for the plays - I hope there is one coming up soon!
Posted by: nicholas ashton at July 8, 2008 5:25 PMABout 5minutestolive -- never had a problem ordering from them. But everything I got was a bootleg or copped from TV, including Beckett's FILM. Very poor quality. Some of the compilations of 70s and 80s stuff is awesomely awful.
About Pinter - I took an undergraduate course on "Chekhov and Pinter" which gave me a different perspective on Pinter than the usual "bloke's a Beckett knockoff" complaint. There's a film of The Caretaker that's pretty good, if my 30-year-old memory serves me right. ;)
Posted by: djll at July 9, 2008 12:57 PMNicholas, thanks no, I never understood the attraction of paying good money for an opportunity to watch people shout at each other.
I think the sub-Beckett accusations against Pinter the Playwrite have some truth in them. Both are very "linguistic" writers, they believe in the power of the single word (which personally doesn't interest me, I'm more into context (if these abbreviations mean anything to anybody out there)). Only, where Beckett goes for the universal, Pinter grounds his words in actualities, so the language also has to carry the individual voice, and I don't find he gets very far trying to reconcile this dichotomy (it's nice for the Mantler stuff though, at least while Robert Wyatt sings).
In the screenplays, Pinter has to adjust to the things that don't really interest him, like plot, development, probability, etc. and he really takes the medium elsewhere. Usually, when a film is good, many alterations to the screenplay were an improvement (The Third Man for an extreme example, the original screenplay was in no way a classic). The Pinter scripts I've read (5 or so) really were perfect, they lose in translation. I've read the Proust script 10 years ago and I still have images from it in my mind, and more important: a sense of rhythm, this really has been top ten inspirational material for me (I should reread before saying something like this, but what the heck. And btw, can't read Proust himself, since I do not have the necessary amount of time to burn so can't empathize, and have zero tolerance for the maybemaybenots anyway.). The Proust script should be filmed low budget, no liberties with the script, maybe on video to avoid fake historizing, you know, do it the Blair Witch style and it will be immortal.
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