Lists
- ranked 22 in BFI 100
- ranked 351 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (December 2006)
- ranked 393 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (August 2005)
- ranked 410 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (March 2006)
- one of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- one of Guardian 1,000 films to see before you die
- one of The New York Times Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made
Barrett (Dirk Bogarde) becomes butler, cook and more for wealthy layabout Tony (James Fox), despite the dislike of Tony's girlfriend Susan (Wendy Craig). Later, he receives permission for his sister, Vera (Sarah Miles), to come and stay.
What follows is some kind of weird and class-conflict psychodrama in which Barrett, an abusive manipulator, takes control of Tony's life. It's not an arc that I found plausible or compelling. I might have found the journey more engaging had I seen it before Parasite, which covers some of the same territory but to a wildly different end.
It's brilliantly executed, however, from stunning black and white cinematography to heightening sense of claustrophobia. I preferred The Caretaker from the same year, also written by Harold Pinter and also, in its way, about class.