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'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.]
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