Servant (The Criterion Collection) 07/23 Blu-ray (Rental)

The prolific, ever provocative Joseph Losey, blacklisted from Hollywood and living in England, delivered a coolly modernist shock to the system of that nation’s cinema with this mesmerizing dissection of class, sexuality, and power. A dissolute scion of the upper crust (James Fox) finds the seemingly perfect manservant (a diabolical Dirk Bogarde, during his transition from matinee idol to art-house icon) to oversee his new London town house. But not all is as it seems, as traditional social hierarchies are gradually, disturbingly destabilized. Lustrously disorienting cinematography and a masterful script by playwright Harold Pinter merge in The Servant, a tour de force of mounting psychosexual menace. BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack New program on director Joseph Losey by film critic Imogen Sara Smith Rare interview from 1976 with Losey by critic Michel Ciment Interview from 1996 with screenwriter Harold Pinter Interviews with actors Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, Sarah Miles, and Wendy Craig Trailer English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing PLUS: An essay by author Colm Tóibín