A glittery-eyed Dirk Bogarde morphs from abject subservience to contemptuous control while James Fox slowly deflates from the unearned confidence of blind privilege to sodden impotence in this intelligent adaptation of a novel about the triumph of an English manservant over his employer. Is this a parable about the collapse of the British ruling class or just a high-class game of cat and mouse—kind of a less gimmicky Sleuth? Either way, director Joseph Losey’s perfectly placed camera captures subtle gazes and glances, facial expressions and body language, telegraphing shifts in power and perspective as artfully as Harold Pinter’s allusive script.
Written for The L Magazine
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