ACCIDENT has complex characters and a narrative which is non-linear that might put some folks off. I rather liked how this 1960s offering about a well-liked professor (Dirk Bogarde) presents a man who may not be as respectable as some think. The non-linear progression of the film keeps us slightly off-balance, which is needed when telling a story about this sort of individual.
To Joseph Losey's credit, we get a multi-layered motion picture that takes full advantage of Bogarde's likable charms but draws on Harold Pinter's script in an unusual way. Dark themes are present in the life of Bogarde's character, but little attention is paid to these aspects at first. We get pulled into his seemingly wholesome world, when a car crash occurs outside his home one day involving college students (Michael York & Jacqueline Sassard) who were coming to visit while his wife's away.
The titular accident is set in the future. We see the immediate and graphic fall-out from the collision. Things then take a backward turn, where we shift to earlier incidents involving the main characters.
In addition to the aforementioned trio, we have Bogarde's wife (Vivien Merchant). Mostly she's a kind soul but long-suffering, since she's married to a man with secret lustful desires and she is never going to be a real priority. Neither is their idyllic domestic life, which includes their family, friends and various bourgeoisie trappings.
In some ways this is a notable follow-up for Dirk Bogarde at this stage of his movie career. He had previously stepped outside his comfort zone when he played the main role in VICTIM (1961). That story, groundbreaking for its time, was about a man who had a homosexual dalliance behind his wife's back and was blackmailed. In VICTIM, the audience is meant to sympathize with Bogarde's character, a basically decent bloke facing exposure, forced to confess mistakes to his wife (Sylvia Syms).
In ACCIDENT, he makes mistakes once again but seems to have less of a conscience about it. For example, he enjoys a long-term affair with a young woman (Delphine Seyrig) and he also has his eye on another one (Sassard). Bogarde is a cheat in this film. He's worse than a cheat, he's a predator who takes advantage of female prey.
The sequence near the end is rather difficult to watch- where we return to those moments that occur just after the accident. He brings Sassard the survivor into his house so he can rape her (years before #MeToo). It is shocking. The whole act is vile. Dirk Bogarde, not usually a villain on screen, doing this? Unbelievable and surreal.
We cannot root for him as he succeeds with this conquest. A hot-blooded older male scores with a sexy young chick while the wife's not around...that's an achievement for him. But we are totally repulsed by the way he scores.
Most of the middle section of the film details his mentoring of York's character, and their shared affections for Sassard. The academic triangle occurs simultaneously with another triangle that involves a university colleague (Stanley Baker) with his own designs on Sassard.
Meanwhile Merchant is oblivious to her husband's romantic rivalries, especially during a weekend gathering where she and the hubby are entertaining these people. While Merchant functions as the ideal wife, Bogarde is focused on Sassard. Every casual look and harmless interaction is subterfuge for his primal desires. He wants to wrest the girl away from Baker. He will get his chance when she is traveling with York and York is killed.
In this film, Bogarde advances from victim to victimizer...the irony is that a man of his refined social standing will not be suspected of such heinous, monstrous behavior. It is no accident that double standards and backlashes exist in modern society. This film shows us how it all starts and how unsuspecting bystanders become voyeurs of tragedy.
To Joseph Losey's credit, we get a multi-layered motion picture that takes full advantage of Bogarde's likable charms but draws on Harold Pinter's script in an unusual way. Dark themes are present in the life of Bogarde's character, but little attention is paid to these aspects at first. We get pulled into his seemingly wholesome world, when a car crash occurs outside his home one day involving college students (Michael York & Jacqueline Sassard) who were coming to visit while his wife's away.
The titular accident is set in the future. We see the immediate and graphic fall-out from the collision. Things then take a backward turn, where we shift to earlier incidents involving the main characters.
In addition to the aforementioned trio, we have Bogarde's wife (Vivien Merchant). Mostly she's a kind soul but long-suffering, since she's married to a man with secret lustful desires and she is never going to be a real priority. Neither is their idyllic domestic life, which includes their family, friends and various bourgeoisie trappings.
In some ways this is a notable follow-up for Dirk Bogarde at this stage of his movie career. He had previously stepped outside his comfort zone when he played the main role in VICTIM (1961). That story, groundbreaking for its time, was about a man who had a homosexual dalliance behind his wife's back and was blackmailed. In VICTIM, the audience is meant to sympathize with Bogarde's character, a basically decent bloke facing exposure, forced to confess mistakes to his wife (Sylvia Syms).
In ACCIDENT, he makes mistakes once again but seems to have less of a conscience about it. For example, he enjoys a long-term affair with a young woman (Delphine Seyrig) and he also has his eye on another one (Sassard). Bogarde is a cheat in this film. He's worse than a cheat, he's a predator who takes advantage of female prey.
The sequence near the end is rather difficult to watch- where we return to those moments that occur just after the accident. He brings Sassard the survivor into his house so he can rape her (years before #MeToo). It is shocking. The whole act is vile. Dirk Bogarde, not usually a villain on screen, doing this? Unbelievable and surreal.
We cannot root for him as he succeeds with this conquest. A hot-blooded older male scores with a sexy young chick while the wife's not around...that's an achievement for him. But we are totally repulsed by the way he scores.
Most of the middle section of the film details his mentoring of York's character, and their shared affections for Sassard. The academic triangle occurs simultaneously with another triangle that involves a university colleague (Stanley Baker) with his own designs on Sassard.
Meanwhile Merchant is oblivious to her husband's romantic rivalries, especially during a weekend gathering where she and the hubby are entertaining these people. While Merchant functions as the ideal wife, Bogarde is focused on Sassard. Every casual look and harmless interaction is subterfuge for his primal desires. He wants to wrest the girl away from Baker. He will get his chance when she is traveling with York and York is killed.
In this film, Bogarde advances from victim to victimizer...the irony is that a man of his refined social standing will not be suspected of such heinous, monstrous behavior. It is no accident that double standards and backlashes exist in modern society. This film shows us how it all starts and how unsuspecting bystanders become voyeurs of tragedy.