Accident (1967 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Accident is a 1967 dramatic film directed by Joseph Losey. The screenplay is by Harold Pinter and is based on the novel by Nicholas Mosley. It was the second of three collaborations between Pinter and Losey, preceded by The Servant and followed by The Go-Between. The running time is 105 minutes.
Plot
The story centers on a married Oxford professor, Stephen, who is experiencing a mid-life crisis. The world changes for him when he meets Anna, a beautiful young woman who is engaged to one of his students, William. Following a car accident outside Stephen's home in which William is killed and Anna is severely disoriented, she is obliged to remain with Stephen although his wife is out of town. The events of the build up to the accident are told in flashbacks and, while Stephen believes that he is in control of the events that will eventually lead to the destruction of his marriage, we soon discover that Anna is not so innocent. In fact, she is involved with Charlie, a colleague of Stephen's.
The crowning metaphor of the film comes at a point in one of the flashbacks when we see a dazed but unhurt Anna crushing her dying fiancé beneath her spike-heeled foot as she steps on his face while trying desperately to climb out of the overturned car.
Cast includes
- Dirk Bogarde - Stephen
- Stanley Baker - Charlie
- Jacqueline Sassard - Anna
- Michael York - William
- Vivien Merchant -Stephen's wife
- Delphine Seyrig - The Provost's daughter
- Alexander Knox -The University Provost
- Anne Firbank
- Brian Phelan
- Terence Rigby
- Freddie Jones
- Jill Johnson
- Jane Hillary
- Maxwell Findlater
- Carole Caplin
