London. Tony, a rich nobleman, hires Barrett to be his butler. While Tony spends his time with his girlfriend Susan, Barrett routinely cleans up his apartment and cooks. One day, Barrett takes in a young girl, Vera, claiming to be his sister. Tony falls for Vera and sleeps with her. Upon returning one night early to his home, Tony is shocked to find out Barrett having sex with Vera, who is actually his fiancé. Tony throws them both out of his home. Susan leaves Tony. He later meets Barrett again who begs Tony to return as his butler, since he is broke. Tony accepts, but Barrett refuses more and more to clean up after Tony. Vera shows up, claiming that Barrett ostensibly told her to fool Tony. Unable to live without Barrett and Vera anymore, Tony passively allows them to do whatever they now want in his home.
One of Joseph Losey's most famous and critically recognized films, "The Servant" is an engaging psychological-allegorical drama that gets more and more unsettling with its running time, until its almost Polanski-esque ending. The simple story about an Aristocrat and his butler serves as a slow-burning commentary on the (subtle) clash between the upper and lower class, and on the urge for dominance as a whole, with the finale showing a secret "revolution" in which the upper class is overthrown in a shift of powers: just as Barrett was at first dependent on Tony for money, now Tony is dependent on Barrett who becomes the new "man in charge". However, this transformation in the ending is somewhat chaotic and unclear, since its triggers were not quite determined. Is Tony dependent on Barrett because of his suppressed gay side? Or because he needs Vera after Susan left him? Either way, the ending is contemplating that it is not only important who owns what, but also who owns whom. One of the strongest metafilm touches is the sequence on the stairs near the finale, where Tony and Barrett constantly exchange their positions—first one is above the other, then the later ascends the stairs while the former descends down—to show the shifting of their power positions. Losey has a very good shot composition, using fluent camera drives and a wide lens to create an engaging mood. Several moments are very expressionistic, as well, such as the grotesque sequence where Tony and Susan return home early at night, and then quietly enter to listen to Barrett's and Vera's hedonistic enjoyment in the empty apartment, "Risky Business" style, with the shadow of a naked Barrett even appearing on the wall, framed by the light coming from the door. While it has a few omissions, "The Servant" is a strong essay on the human tendency to exploit the other in order to rise through the ranks.
Grade:+++
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