Sexuality in the Servant - Report Example

The representation of sexuality and in the films of the 1940s to 1980s, with close textual reference to The Servant  The British have often been described as having a conservative attitude to the portrayal of sexuality in cinema, and this stereotype has persisted despite numerous examples of films that not only demonstrate subversive sexuality, but seem to celebrate it. John Hill (1986) suggests that "while the repressed side of British sexuality is often discussed, the reverse - the sometimes bizarre ways in which that repression is occasionally blown open - often goes unnoticed" (Hill, 1986, p. 201). Traditionally, explicit sexuality has been regarded by film-makers as a means of indicating danger: sexually active women, for example, tend to be seen by audiences to be devious or dangerous, while chaste women are seen as innocent. Joseph Loseys 1963 film The Servant takes many of these assumptions about sexuality in British cinema and subverts them, showing how the traditional rules of British society can be torn down as repressed sexuality finally explodes. Based on a script by Harold Pinter, The Servant is a psychological drama that shows how sexuality and class are inextricably linked in British life, and how trauma in one can lead to trauma in the other.  The Servant The Servant is the story of Tony (James Fox), a wealthy young Londoner who hires a manservant, Hugo Barrett (Dick Bogarde). It was adapted from Robin Maugham’s novel of the same title and directed by Joseph Losey. Many critics have hailed it as a film that explored a version of a classic narrative of innocence having been corrupted by evil. Here, there is the emphasis of moral bankruptcy of the contemporary society especially in the case of the educated class. With Tony, as the rich young man who did not have any moral convictions and clear and viable personal goals, the narrative was an exposition of how he came to be dominated by those others who have stronger personalities. In a strictly chronological manner, he was heavily under the influence of Susan (Wendy Craig), his maid, Vera (Susan Miles), and, of course, by Barrett. At first, Barrett appears to be a typical manservant, and this leads him to develop what appears to be a good relationship with his master. Caute (1994) argues that this good relationship represents "the most that society would tolerate in terms of a masters familiarity with his manservant" (Caute, 1994, p. 170). However, the dynamics of the relationship is deeper. This theme is best represented in the investigation on Barrett’s resentment as a servant to a person he believes to be a lesser man. Palmer and Riley (1993), pointed to the fact that he represented the main conflict in the story by exposing the arrogant and self-indulgent corruption of the privileged class in Britain that exploited the underclass. (p. 44) The sexual theme was a device to pursue this wider discourse especially in the servant’s quest to take over Tony’s household and degrade his person methodically by luring him with drugs and alcohol. Sexuality From the start of the film there is an atmosphere of tense sexuality that underpins the developing class-based relationship between Tony and Barrett: this is achieved primarily through the use of a claustrophobic mise-en-scene and camera angles that favour expressionism, with the result that the audience is invited to consider the psychological drama of the relationship beyond the natural assumptions that would follow from the content of the early scenes. Specific elements included dialogues, which from the beginning of the film sought to subtly establish this. For instance, Barrett was depicted sizing up Tony, observing, “He’s a vampire too, on his Sundays off.” One can also identify the early scenes of interaction between the two main characters. Barrett’s three o’clock appointment with Tony in Chelsea is an important example. Here, the scene saw Barrett ingratiating himself to the house when he found that the door was ajar and he found Tony, sleeping in the rear patio. The intrusion, the stealth involved in it and the seemingly contrived situation, was seen by Gardner (2004) as some initial dichotomy between “Barrett’s punctiliousness and Tony’s lethargy.” (p. 137) However, an underlying dimension to this theme is how the scene represented the degree and manner Barrett encroached Tony’s space – his life - in the entire narrative and how the latter consciously and subconsciously allowed and encouraged it. More implicit manifestations of the sexual theme are embodied in the character of Tony’s girlfriend, Susan. According to Gardner, Susan considered Barrett as her sexual rival. (p. 137) Indeed, there were conscious attempts from her part to subvert actions and behaviors by Barrett to the point that it was all ridiculous especially considering their stations. The obsessive attention given to the servant and the endless nitpicking - all were aimed to underscore the recognition of competition. Gardner found one scene particularly significant to this dynamics – that confrontation between the two over who controls the décor and accessories in Tony’s house. To quote: In the [original] novel, Tony rents the house already furnished. In the film, Barrett helps to decorate it, using his apparent connoisseur’s knowledge of interior design as an index of his growing power and influence, as well as his feeling of superiority over members of his own class. (p. 138) In the end, Barrett would replace Susan from doing all the roles relegated to the mistress of the house. At one point, as stressed by Gardner as well, when Tony was sick Barrett even supplanted Susan from playing mother to the bed-ridden man. If these scenes are compared to earlier British films featuring men and their manservants, it is clear that in The Servant Losey is using mise-en-scene to immediately confront the audience with distorting, disturbing images that demonstrate that there is an unspoken but palpable air of dread and nervous energy about these early scenes. Although it is not initially clear in these scenes how this nervous energy will develop, the audience is left in no doubt that the relationship between Tony and Barrett has already develop some strong and ominous undercurrents.  The Visual Symbolisms The mise-en-scene employed in the film is particularly potent in the visual representations that are replete with symbolisms that comprised a pattern that illustrate the evolving relationship between Tony and Barrett as to who is in control, who is the real master and who is the real servant. For instance, in the early part of the film, Tony was interviewing Barrett and the way it was presented show the way it was supposed to be: Tony was standing over the servant, who are readily replying what were required by the question. Here, and in similar instances, Tony was prominent in the picture while Barrett dissolves, as if melting with the background. As the master, however, succumbed to the domineering personality of the servant, the visual pattern gradually changes. It was now Barrett who occupied the spotlight in the scenes. A very appropriate example to this point was the confrontation between them in the staircase wherein Barrett finally was standing over Tony. There was some altercation involved and the resulting scene was Barrett was threatening to leave the house. At this point, Tony was standing above the stairs. But as Barrett went to pack his bags, Tony blocked him and the tussle left him kneeling below the servant. Visual devises were also employed in order to expound on certain details of the narrative. For instance, it was effective in the way it reinforced the characterization. There is the opening sequence to highlight the Barrett character. Here the camera moved from trees, to the sky and the façade of a building. Barrett is presented at this point, on a sidewalk under a signage: Thomas Crapper, Sanitary Engineers. The signage was already a tale of Barrett’s origin. The neighborhood in combination with his attire – a topcoat and a hat – pointed to the possibility, for the audience, that the man standing was not exactly a gentleman but a gentleman’s man. In regards to Tony, the film perused the environs of the house in order to depict a huge aspect of his personality. As Barrett traversed the parts of the abode in search for Tony, the audience is given glimpses of a space that lacked furnishing. It was, for the most part, empty. Such emptiness coupled with the sleeping, passive master seemed to indicate a blank and powerless slate that needs to be filled. As Barrett stood over the reclining Tony, such message was quite poignant and communicated and established the direction of the story. In a later scene, Barrett’s opinion of Tony’s character would be illustrated in a sculpture that Tony was showing off to Susan, a modernist artifice installed in the garden but nonetheless, shapeless, almost without definition and character. In addition to the above elements, the director of the film managed to effect strong nuances in line with his mise-en-scene. This is the physicality of the main actors. In the interview that transpired between Barrett and Tony, the former was depicted as stationary while Tony was constantly pacing about. This early, their sense of purpose and the strength of characters were already firmly established. Then, there was the case of Susan, the third element in the triangle. In a conflict between her and Barrett, during the scene of Tony’s cold, she was depicted as the opposite of the increasingly decadent and dark characterization of the servant. She brought flowers and changed the décor to colored pillows in the couch. While she was, indeed, a stereotypical upper class character, with her snobbish attitude towards Tony’s servant, she served to be the other force in the battle for Tony’s soul. While there was a clear cruelty involved in her conscious attack on Barrett’s person and her constant reminder and insinuation on the status between them, it was her way in waging her war. She insisted the flowers to stay when all she saw was the increasing power of the servant, particularly in the way the house was hermetically decorated. Conclusion All in all, the film, The Servant, is all about possession, with Tony and the house as the objects. The backdrop of master and servant made the entire process all the more explosive and disturbing. The dynamics behind the class relations in the British society assured this to happen. Losey’s deftness in this aspect has been previously demonstrated in the previous work, Blind Date, which according to Aldgate and Richards (1999), explored the idea of betrayal but with strong class elements interjected. (p. 140) This overall theme, aided by effective mise-en-scene as demonstrated in the sexual undertones and visual imagery, taught its audience the lesson of identity. As Tony lost his master position and Barrett gained his dominant status, the myth of identity has been shattered. With sex as the main device used, stereotypes in British filmmaking as well as in the British society during the period were challenged and Barrett is central to its success. References Aldgate, A and Richards, J 1999, Best of British: cinema and society from 1930 to the present. I.B. Tauris, London. Caute, D 1994, Joseph Losey: A Revenge on Life, Faber and Faber, London.  Gardner, C 2004, Joseph Losey, Manchester University Press, Manchester.  Hill, J 1986, Sex, Class and Realism: British Cinema, 1956-1963, BFI Publishing, London.  Palmer, J and M. Riley 1993, The Films of Joseph Losey, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge The Servant (1964). DVD, Starz/Anchor Bay, 2001. Read More