source: Accident

Trailer—Accident

Accident

I understand that Joseph Losey's "Accident" is supposed to be about perception, but the whole thing is a soporific melodrama rivaling Terrence Malick's worst. Not worth your time.

ACCIDENT is a slow and staged conversation piece written by Harold Pinter. If you like highbrow intellectual discussion and the like then you might enjoy it although I found that it barely registered as a movie. The film features two fine actors, Dirk Bogarde and Stanley Baker, playing rival professors who just so happen to be sleeping with the same girl. Much is made of the opening car accident scene and the film strives hard to work up an air of mystery regarding the events surrounding it, but I found it all largely uninteresting and trivial. The characters are unlikeable across the board and the film's continuing attempts to be highbrow and artistic make it a real bore to sit through. When the subject matter is something as unimportant and uninteresting as affairs then it all feels very lacklustre.

This is an highly intellectual (pretentious) drama screen written by Harold Pinter. Pinter is the master of the pregnant pause, allowing the characters to react in their own ways. Dirk Bogarde is quite good as the college professor who has created his own world. He fancies being the controller, but his shallowness betrays him. When the young people get into the accident, he portrays himself as sympathetic to the young female survivor. But he really abuses his situation. But ultimately, we have the work of a masterful modern playwright.

The Oxford professor of philosophy Stephen (Dirk Bogarde) has two favorite pupils, the athletic aristocrat William (Michael York) and the Austrian Anna von Graz (Jacqueline Sassard). Stephen is a frustrated man, with a negligent wife, Rosalind (Vivien Merchant), who is pregnant of their third child, and is envious of the Oxford professor Charley (Stanley Baker) that has a television show. Stephen feels attracted to Anna, but William woos her and she becomes his girlfriend. Charley has a love affair with Anna but when William dies in a car accident, she leaves Oxford to return to her home town. "Accident" is a deceptive and pointless movie directed by Joseph Losey. Dick Bogarde has an astonishing performance in the role of an insecure man, but it is hard to understand why he keeps his close "friendhip" with Charley. There is a sexual tension along the movie but the result is disappointing. My vote is five. Title (Brazil): "Estranho Acidente" ("Strange Accident")

Pros: 1. Both Dirk Bogarde (Stephen) and Stanley Baker (Charley) give really good performances. 2. The cinematography is brilliant with some impressive shots and is visually stunning. Cons: 1. The audio is far too loud at certain points and is poorly mixed at other points. 2. Some of the scenes are either needlessly inserted, or they last too long. 3. The dialogue sounds quite clunky and unnatural. At times, it also looks to be dubbed. 4. There are no likable or interesting characters. 5. The plot is not only too melodramatic, but it also seems to just sway incoherently from scene-to-scene. It doesn't help that the movie tries to follow a non-linear path. 6. The film is far too slow-paced, and it never feels justified. 7. The conflict between Charley, Stephen, and William (Michael York) over the affections of Anna (Jacqueline Sassard) is incredibly forced and poorly built-up to.