Accident (1967 film)

Accident is a 1967 British drama film directed by Joseph Losey. Written by Harold Pinter, it is an adaptation of the 1965 novel Accident by Nicholas Mosley. It is the third of four Losey–Pinter collaborations; the others being The Servant (1963), Modesty Blaise (1966) and The Go-Between (1971). At the 1967 Cannes Film Festival, Accident won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury award. It also won the Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association.

Plot
Stephen, a married Oxford tutor in his forties, has two students: the rich and likeable William, of whom he is fond, and a beautiful, enigmatic Austrian named Anna, whom he secretly covets. William also fancies Anna and hopes to know her better. While his wife is away having their third child, Stephen looks up an old flame in London and they sleep together. Returning home, he finds that his pushy colleague Charley has been using the house for sex with Anna. She tells Stephen privately that she and William are engaged to be married.

William says that he will come to Stephen's house after a party that night. As he is too drunk to drive, Anna takes the wheel, but she crashes the car outside Stephen's gate. Upon finding the accident and William dead, Stephen pulls the deeply shaken Anna from the wreckage and hides her upstairs while he calls the police. Later, he forces himself on her while she is still in shock, then takes her back to her room at the university. He comes by in the morning to find a bemused Charley, who cannot prevent Anna from packing to return to Austria.

Cast

 * Dirk Bogarde as Stephen
 * Stanley Baker as Charley
 * Jacqueline Sassard as Anna
 * Michael York as William
 * Vivien Merchant as Rosalind, Stephen's wife
 * Alexander Knox as University Provost
 * Delphine Seyrig as Francesca, daughter of the provost
 * Ann Firbank as Laura
 * Brian Phelan as Police Sergeant
 * Terence Rigby as Plainclothes policeman
 * Freddie Jones as Man in Bell's office
 * Maxwell Findlater (pseudonym of Maxwell Caulfield) as Ted
 * Carole Caplin as Clarissa
 * Harold Pinter as Bell
 * Nicholas Mosley as Hedges
 * Steven Easton as Baby, Stephen and Rosalind's baby

Reception
Responding to criticism that the film's meaning was difficult to discern, Stanley Baker said: "It's obvious what Accident meant ... It meant what was shown on the screen." Of Joseph Losey's direction, Baker said: "One of Joe's problems is that he tends to wrap things up too much for himself. I think that 75% of the audience didn't realise that Accident was a flashback."

In his review upon the film's release, New York Times critic Bosley Crowther called Accident "a sad little story of a wistful don ... neither strong drama nor stinging satire."

The film performed poorly at the box office. In 1973, Losey said the film was "officially in bankruptcy."

On Rotten Tomatoes, Accident holds a rating of 76% from 29 reviews.