'The Servant' quivers with sexual and social tension and unspoken menace. Tony (James Fox), an affable but none too bright young man living in Chelsea, advertises for a manservant to keep his household in order. What he gets is Barrett (Bogarde), buttoned-up and porkpie-hatted, whose deferential courtesy barely conceals his lacerating contempt for Tony and everything he stands for. Steadily he proceeds to take over, ousting Tony's posh fiancée and installing his sluttish 'sister' (Sarah Miles) to complete the hapless young man's downfall. Douglas Slocombe 's insidious camera, sidling and lurking to catch unexpected angles as the mood darkens, subtly maps the shifts of the power relationship.

*****

The camerawork subtly underscores the gradually changing circumstances by opening with a fluid style featuring long takes and tracking shots and gradually transitioning into more jagged camera angles and quick editing, as Tony's psychological state becomes more fragmented. The noirish high contrast texture of the black and white photography by Douglas Slocombe accentuates the cold, distant point of view of the narrative. [From the Epinions.com website.]