Indolent aristocrat Tony employs competent Barrett as his manservant and all seems to be going well until Barrett persuades Tony to hire his sister as a live-in maid.
Direction
Losey's camera turns a townhouse into a trap.
Acting
Bogarde's smile contains multitudes of menace.
Cinematography
Mirrors don't reflect — they accuse.
Director
Joseph Losey
Dirk Bogarde
Hugo Barrett
James Fox
Tony
Sarah Miles
Vera
Wendy Craig
Susan Stewart
Catherine Lacey
Lady Agatha Mounset
Richard Vernon
Lord Willie Mounset
Harold Pinter
People in Restaurant: Society Man
Ann Firbank
People in Restaurant: Society Woman
Doris Nolan
People in Restaurant: Older Woman
Patrick Magee
People in Restaurant: Bishop
John Dankworth
Jazz Band Leader (uncredited)
Jill Melford
People in Restaurant: Younger Woman
Brian Phelan
Man in Pub
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Harold Pinter's screenplay was his first produced feature; he and Losey fought constantly, creating the friction that fuels the film.
Released the same year as the Profumo scandal, it captured a Britain where class certainties were violently unraveling.
GB
