Accident
With Dirk Bogarde, Jacqueline Sassard, Stanley Baker.
UK, 1967, 35mm, color, 105 min.
Print source: British Film Institute
Often held up as one of Losey's uncontested masterpieces, Accident is a lucid and chilling summary of his pessimistic view of human relationships, a taut ensemble piece about simmering mid-life dissatisfaction and repression. Focusing on the tense rivalry between two married Oxford dons over an attractive young Austrian student, Accident boasts one of Pinter's finest screenplays, revealing his incredible ability to make even the simplest phrases shimmer with malice and unease. Tracking back and forth from the titular accident, the film unfolds a complex flashback structure that only gradually reveals the labyrinthine relationships between a professor and his colleagues and students. Accident's sophisticated time structure no doubt owes something to Alain Resnais, who returned the favor by professing his unmitigated admiration for the film.