Accident

"The story of a love triangle... and the four people trapped in it!"

1967 1h 45m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 121

RomanceDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Stephen is a professor at Oxford University who is caught in a rut and feels trapped by his life in both academia and marriage. One of his students, William, is engaged to the beautiful Anna, and Stephen becomes enamored of the younger woman. These three people become linked together by a horrible car crash, with flashbacks providing details into the lives of each person and their connection to the others in this brooding English drama.

“The story of a love triangle... and the four people trapped in it!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Dirk Bogarde
Stephen
Stanley Baker
Charley
Jacqueline Sassard
Anna
Michael York
William
Vivien Merchant
Rosalind
Delphine Seyrig
Francesca
Alexander Knox
Provost
Ann Firbank
Laura

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joseph Losey
Writers: Harold Pinter
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.6M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

59 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joseph Losey, shot by Gerry Fisher. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Dankworth. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Reginald Beck shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Dirk Bogarde and Stanley Baker and Jacqueline Sassard carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The story of a love triangle... and the four people trapped in it!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0061328 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joseph Losey directs. Gerry Fisher behind the camera. John Dankworth scores. Reginald Beck cuts. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.6M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
259 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Joseph Losey, shot by Gerry Fisher. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by John Dankworth. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Reginald Beck shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Dirk Bogarde and Stanley Baker and Jacqueline Sassard carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "The story of a love triangle... and the four people trapped in it!".
8IMDB entry: tt0061328 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 10 themes, including "infidelity", "based on novel or book", "obsession", "professor".

The technical file

Cinematography: Gerry Fisher
Original score: John Dankworth
Editing: Reginald Beck
Costume design: Beatrice Dawson
Makeup / hair: Bob Lawrance
Runtime: 105 min · 1h 45m
Status: Released
Budget: $600,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: Accident (1967)

Awards

National Board of Review: Top Ten Films
Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Joseph Losey

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-02-10
★ 6/10
Dirk Bogarde is a philosophy professor at Oxford University - happily married with two children; and another on the way. He has a favourite student - Michael York who is keen on a newcomer; the glamorous Austrian Jacqueline Sassard. They have a Sunday lunch with an additional guest in Stanley Baker - a fellow professor who is struggling with his own marriage; as well as his - envy evoking - television career. It's a sort of intellectual menage-à-trois - Bogarde fancies his Austrian student but she has eyes on both York and Baker... Even the consumption of excesses of booze at the lunch/dinner/supper doesn't inject much into this. It lacks any degree of edginess or depth - but merely provides us with a spotlight on the bored, affected, educational middle-classes that doesn't really shine anything beyond highlighting the shallowness of the characters created by Nicholas Mosley - and not really enhanced much by Harold Pinter.. The performances, especially from Baker, are good but there just isn't enough substance to generate a spark!

Production companies