Accident is a 1967 British drama film directed by Joseph Losey. Written by Harold Pinter, it is an adaptation of the 1965 novel Accident by Nicholas Mosley. It is the third of four Losey–Pinter collaborations; the others being The Servant (1963), Modesty Blaise (1966) and The Go-Between (1971).[4] At the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, Accident won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury award.[5] It also won the Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association.
| Accident | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Joseph Losey |
| Screenplay by | Harold Pinter |
| Based on | Accident 1965 novel by Nicholas Mosley |
| Produced by | Joseph Losey Norman Priggen |
| Starring | Dirk Bogarde Stanley Baker Jacqueline Sassard |
| Cinematography | Gerry Fisher |
| Edited by | Reginald Beck |
| Music by | John Dankworth |
| Distributed by | London Independent Producers |
Release date |
|
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £299,970.00[1] or £272,811[2][3] |
| Box office | £40,010 (UK gross)[2] £95,153 (world gross)[2] |
Plot
Stephen, a married Oxford tutor in his forties, has two students: the rich and likeable William, of whom he is fond, and a beautiful, enigmatic Austrian named Anna, whom he secretly covets. William also fancies Anna and hopes to know her better. While his wife is away having their third child, Stephen looks up an old flame in London and they sleep together. Returning home, he finds that his pushy colleague Charley has been using the house for sex with Anna. She tells Stephen privately that she and William are engaged to be married.
William says that he will come to Stephen's house after a party that night. As he is too drunk to drive, Anna takes the wheel, but she crashes the car outside Stephen's gate. Upon finding the accident and William dead, Stephen pulls the deeply shaken Anna from the wreckage and hides her upstairs while he calls the police. Later, he forces himself on her while she is still in shock, then takes her back to her room at the university. He comes by in the morning to find a bemused Charley, who cannot prevent Anna from packing to return to Austria.
Cast
- Dirk Bogarde as Stephen
- Stanley Baker as Charley
- Jacqueline Sassard as Anna
- Michael York as William
- Vivien Merchant as Rosalind, Stephen's wife
- Alexander Knox as University Provost
- Delphine Seyrig as Francesca, daughter of the provost
- Ann Firbank as Laura
- Brian Phelan as Police Sergeant
- Terence Rigby as Plainclothes policeman
- Freddie Jones as Man in Bell's office
- Maxwell Findlater (pseudonym of Maxwell Caulfield) as Ted
- Carole Caplin[6] as Clarissa
- Harold Pinter as Bell
- Nicholas Mosley as Hedges
- Steven Easton as Baby, Stephen and Rosalind's baby
Reception
Responding to criticism that the film's meaning was difficult to discern, Stanley Baker said: "It's obvious what Accident meant ... It meant what was shown on the screen." Of Joseph Losey's direction, Baker said: "One of Joe's problems is that he tends to wrap things up too much for himself. I think that 75% of the audience didn't realise that Accident was a flashback."[7]
In his review upon the film's release, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther called Accident "a sad little story of a wistful don ... neither strong drama nor stinging satire."[8]
The film performed poorly at the box office. In 1973, Losey said the film was "officially in bankruptcy."[9]
On Rotten Tomatoes, Accident holds a rating of 76% from 29 reviews.[10]
References
Notes
Further reading
- Billington, Michael (2007) Harold Pinter. London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 978-0-571-23476-9 (13)
- Billington, Michael (1996) The Life and Work of Harold Pinter. London: Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-17103-6 (10)
- Gale, Steven H. (2003) Sharp Cut: Harold Pinter's Screenplays and the Artistic Process, Lexington, Kentucky: The UP of Kentucky, ISBN 0-8131-2244-9 (10) ISBN 978-0-8131-2244-1 (13)
- Gale, Steven H. (2001) The Films of Harold Pinter. Albany: SUNY P ISBN 0-7914-4932-7 ISBN 978-0-7914-4932-5
External links
- Accident at IMDb
- Accident at AllMovie
- Accident at the TCM Movie Database
- "Films by Harold Pinter: Accident 1966" – At HaroldPinter.org: The Official Website of the International Playwright Harold Pinter.
- "Harold Pinter & Joseph Losey", by Jamie Andrews, Harold Pinter Archive Blog, British Library, 15 June 2009.
- Accident at BFI Screenonline
