Accident

While the titles appear and fade, the camera stares motionlessly at a darkened country house. Suddenly the night is shattered by a violent car crash, unseen but close by. The camera has not moved. This tense, menacing underplaying pervades Josheph Loseys powerful film Accident.

Conscious of his middle age, Stephen (Dirk Bogard) a philosophy tutor at Oxford becomes obsessed with one of his students, Anna (Jaqueline Sassard). So too does fellow don, Charley (Stanely Baker) and William (Michael York) another of Stephen's students. At a weekend gathering at Stephens home, in the presence of his pregnant wife (Vivien Merchant) the subtle agression of their competition hides beneath the common place; relaxing on a lawn, playing tennis, strolling, having dinner, but above all in the seemingly casual dialogue. Possessive violence is just below the surface.

Drawing on Mosley's novel, Pinter wrote the script and Losey has made perceptive use of the "Pinteresque" traits. What is said and done is not as important as the myriad interpretations and ambiguities that are implied. The inconsequential chatter can be just that, or in the hands of someone who appreciates its nature, a sinister weapon. Neither the producer nor the script writer set up reassuring signposts.

Realistically, the five main characters have no clear cut outlines, and any easy assigning of motives or historical explanation is irrelevant. They exist and interact only in the present and this is reflected in the strange timeless quality of the film. The whole structure is Stephen's flash back after he finds and rescues Anna from the car crash in which William has died, yet even here we are left unsure as to how truthful or subjectively biased his viewpoint has been.

Pinter writes, "A character on the stage who can present no convincing argument or information as to his past experiences...is as worthy of attention as one who, alarmingly, can...The more acute the experience the less articulate its expression". Aided by an excellent cast Losey's profoundly haunting film works through the evocation of strong emotions and moods rather than an easily analyzed story—line.

Rob Cameron