Accident (1967)

89% of critics liked it
(9 reviews)
73% of users liked it
(466 ratings)

The complex relationships among an Oxford professor, one of his students, and the young woman who captivates both of them is the subject of this difficult but rewarding drama. Director Joseph Losey and writer Harold Pinter had previously collaborated on 1963's The Servant, and they surrounded this… More The complex relationships among an Oxford professor, one of his students, and the young woman who captivates both of them is the subject of this difficult but rewarding drama. Director Joseph Losey and writer Harold Pinter had previously collaborated on 1963's The Servant, and they surrounded this recasting of a Nicholas Mosley novel with a similar atmosphere of ominous mystery. The story is presented through flashbacks and disconnected memories that trace the characters' interactions. Though the mood is occasionally brightened by satirical views of the academic world, the overall effect is rather somber, concerned with missed opportunities, unhealthy obsessions, and unavoidable regret. Dirk Bogarde superbly captures the pensive professor's torment, with able support from Jacqueline Sassard and Michael York as the younger couple. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 40 min.
Directed By: Joseph Losey
Genres: Mystery & Suspense, Drama

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1967 Wide
Studio: BFI Distribution

Critic Reviews

Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Painstakingly underplayed.
Richard T. Jameson, Parallax View
Although little remembered over the intervening decades-and maddeningly misunderstood by many of the reviewers who shrugged it off-Accident is one of the great modern films.
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
An eerie, caustic, surgically calm film about the skull beneath the skin of genteel English life.
Wally Hammond, Time Out
'Accident' now seems a little self-conscious in its modernist, 'quality' art-cinema pretensions.
Jon Fortgang, Film4
Taut, dark, brilliantly acted - this autopsy on the emotional lives of the English intelligentsia is among Bogarde and Losey's greatest achievements.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
It's a story of overheated sexual jealousy, colliding male egos and long boozy days full of spite and point-scoring. It's brilliantly cruel and only slightly dated.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
I personally think Losey's The Servant is the more interesting film, because it has the more interesting performance from Bogarde.
Anthony Quinn, Independent
The overall effect is so full of loathing and meanness that one hardly cares for those subliminal tremors, and the arch structuring of the story - the accident, then the long flashback - makes it dramatically inert.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Wonderful collaboration between writer Harold Pinter, director Joseph Losey, and actor Dirk Bogarde, who plays an Oxford professor obsessed with his beautiful student. Losey's stylishly elegant, psychologically comepelling study is one his best films.

Read all 9 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Stefanie C

Understated and complex. A fine collaboration of Bogarde, Losey and Pinter.
Eric B

Intense, compelling film with Michael York, Dirk Bogarde and Stanley Baker meeting gorgeous Jacqueline Sassard, and clashing verbal swords over her in that creepily repressed, passive-aggressive British style. Also interesting to see screenwriter Harold Pinter turn up in a cameo as a… More
Intense, compelling film with Michael York, Dirk Bogarde and Stanley Baker meeting gorgeous Jacqueline Sassard, and clashing verbal swords over her in that creepily repressed, passive-aggressive British style. Also interesting to see screenwriter Harold Pinter turn up in a cameo as a television executive. I looked up Sassard on IMDB, and was intrigued to learn that she had quite a solid acting career and then abruptly quit at age 28. I wonder why?