Joseph Losey and Harold Pinter

[Smeraldina Rima]

Thought it would be good and Barry approved to start new threads when Mubi has specials on: https://mubi.com/specials/joseph-losey

The Servant, the first Joseph Losey film I've seen. I thought it was really good, for the most part: fantastic direction by Losey and the plot and themes are a clear influence on the recent Parasite and star James Fox's more well-known role in Performance (I noticed a few other things that Roeg drew on, too, like the creative use of mirrors).
I found Sarah Miles as the kind of femme fatale character irritating and unconvincing, which nearly sunk the film, but Bogarde and Fox have a great dynamic and the pacing and tension were impressive particularly for a drama film of this vintage.

Mr Klein Another Losey film and I liked this one a lot. Alain Delon, here approaching middle age, is an art dealer in wartime Paris who gets accused of being his Jewish criminal namesake and tries to find this elusive doppelganger. Brilliantly framed by Losey and even if this subject of split and switching identities is by now a familiar one in film, the paranoid, murky atmosphere of Nazi Paris is tangible and it's compellingly paced.

I started with The Servant too and personally liked Sarah Miles' performance. Is there something about the black and white that makes it so good looking and sleek in this besides the direction and mirrors? Didn't realise Dirk Bogarde's northern accent was not his regular voice until afterwards - a fantastic accent. He reminds me of Melvyn Bragg and Kevin Eldon. I wish Losey had directed some of Pinter's plays as films having seen this.

The Servant raised my hopes too high for The Accident, which has similar psychological, sexual, class and power games but is less concentrated and less beautiful to look at. It's in colour and has more characters, while Dirk Bogarde plays something like the reverse role as an Oxford professor but it's another good film with some terse and unsettling Pinter phrases. Pinter also plays small roles in both films.

Looking forward to The Go-Between and Mr Klein and maybe going back to watch Eva which is in black and white.

[Lost Oliver]

Smeraldina!

I've been catching up on a couple of his. Last one I vidded was The Damned . Shaking acting but it had an uncanny, Losey feel to it.

Not sure why but I preferred The Accident to The Servant. Probably because Bogarde was a bit too sexy and it threatened me.

[Sin Agog]

Didn't like Eva, but then I don't generally warm up to those movies full of sexy, rich, young, anomic things lounging around in the sun.

Always dug the Dirk Bogarde/Losey films.  God, for someone whose name made him sound like a Simpsons spoof of a '50s matinee idol, he was an extremely underrated actor.  Started off a teen icon, before forging one of the most interesting careers of his generation.

[chveik]

yeah Bogarde was one hell of a lad. Eva's far from his best, but it's fine. I like the little segment with Delphine Seyrig in Accident.

[Smeraldina Rima]

Hi Lost Oliver hope you're doing ok. I've been posting a bit again during the Coronavirus pandemic but it's not going very well. My mental resolve unravelled under the pressure of writing casually online. Shan't bother with Eva then after those two words of warning. I had second thoughts about The Go-Between as I'd like to read the book one day. Not sure what vidded means: did you make a music video to go with edited clips from the film? I have to be prepared here for 'oh cool' or 'no of course you didn't that would be ridiculous'.

[Inspector Norse]

I started with The Servant too and personally liked Sarah Miles' performance.

Interesting, I'm not sure exactly what it was that put me off but I just found Fox's falling for her very unconvincing. Too obvious a ploy, perhaps, or maybe just that I myself didn't find her particularly attractive!

Is there something about the black and white that makes it so good looking and sleek in this besides the direction and mirrors?

It was very stylish and interesting to note that within the film's own world it's Bogarde who is responsible for making it look that way and making the decisions, rather than Fox, who as a wealthy playboy you would assume would be the aesthete.
The narrow stairways and corridors and varying angles from which everything was shot added to the paranoia of the film very well. I got a strong influence from Dreyer's set for Joan of Arc in there.

Pinter also plays small roles in both films.

Was it a Losey trademark to have a focus on those little irrelevant chats and scenes in the restaurant? There was something a bit similar in Mr Klein when the waiter is searching for Delon in the theatre bar.

[Smeraldina Rima]

I think it was something about her being so much the piece in Kevin Eldon's plan, like it was him that was making Fox fall for her. I did - and I say this strictly in film school - quite fancy her though. Really interesting point about Bogarde being the in world style guru. And luckily, Mubi has both Mr Klein and Dreyer's Joan of Arc (Mubi Denmark) showing atm.

[dissolute ocelot]

I seem to be the only person who prefers The Accident to the Servant. The latter is just people with no redeeming characteristics doing crappy things to each other, slowly, in black and white. Depressing and stylised shit for misanthropes. The Accident has much more, well, colour, and atmosphere, and feels like a portrayal of more complex, interesting, and realistic people, doing stupid things in a plausible way. Some people prefer their films to be singlemindedly concentrated with an overarching worldview that people are worthless, while I'd rather watch a variety of shit unfold.

[Inspector Norse]

people with no redeeming characteristics doing crappy things to each other, slowly

That's life, mate