Accident (1967)
"Like
a punch in the chest. Put together breath by breath, look by look,
lust by lust, lie by lie. A compelling film".
 The complex relationships of an Oxford professor, one of his
students, and the young woman who captivates both of them is the
subject of this difficult but rewarding drama.
Director Joseph Losey and writer Harold Pinter had previously
collaborated on 1963's The Servant, and they surrounded this
recasting of a Nicholas Mosley novel with a similar atmosphere of
ominous mystery.
The film starts with a car crash splitting the night air of the
quiet countryside outside Oxford.
A male student has been killed, and his female companion - a
campus girl - is taken into the neighbouring mansion, occupied by
the university teacher (Bogarde) who has been instructing them both
in philosophy.
The
story is then presented through flashbacks and memories that trace
the characters' interactions.
 Though the mood is occasionally
brightened by satirical views of the academic world, the overall
effect is rather sombre, concerned with missed opportunities,
unhealthy obsessions, and unavoidable regret.
Dirk Bogarde superbly captures the pensive professor's torment,
with able support from Jacqueline Sassard and Michael York as the
younger couple.
But the main acting surprise is provided by Stanley Baker,
unusually bespectacled as the amorous Charlie, and wittily
suggesting the man's self-esteem and his lonely search for
horizontal satisfaction.
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