At Oxford, Austrian student Anna von Graz (Jacqueline Sassard) is dating fellow student William (Michael York), whom she plans to marry, but she ends up involved with two unhappily married O... Read allAt Oxford, Austrian student Anna von Graz (Jacqueline Sassard) is dating fellow student William (Michael York), whom she plans to marry, but she ends up involved with two unhappily married Oxford professors instead.At Oxford, Austrian student Anna von Graz (Jacqueline Sassard) is dating fellow student William (Michael York), whom she plans to marry, but she ends up involved with two unhappily married Oxford professors instead.
- Nominated for 4 BAFTA Awards
- 5 wins & 9 nominations total
- Ted
- (as Maxwell Findlater)
- Stephen & Rosalind's baby
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJoseph Losey and Harold Pinter were keen to make a film out of Nicholas Mosley's novel, but knew it would have to be a low-budget, intimate drama and that it would be difficult to find funding for it. Losey was certain that his friend and frequent collaborator Sir Dirk Bogarde would be the best casting for the role of "Stephen." When the famous producer Sam Spiegel expressed an interest in making the film, Losey and Pinter were tempted, because they knew he could find the money for it; but Losey was also cautious, having known and worked with Spiegel before, and also knowing that he liked to dominate his directors and impose himself on them. He was also sure that Spiegel was now only interested in lavish prestige productions. Sure enough, Spiegel insisted on hiring Richard Burton, then the highest-paid and most famous male film star in the world, to play "Stephen," hinting that, with Burton involved, an all-star cast could be obtained, and also making disturbing noises about the film becoming "more commercial". He invited Losey aboard his famous 378-foot yacht to discuss the film, and it was aboard this yacht, in the middle of the Mediterranean, that Spiegel offered Losey one of his special eight-inch cigars, which were prepared exclusively for him and which cost (in 1966) about £12 each (around £175-£200 in 2021 money). Losey, a non-smoker, accepted the cigar, made an elaborate show of piercing and lighting it, took two puffs and then threw it overboard, claiming it was "too dry." Furious, Spiegel immediately withdrew from the project and Losey was left free to make the small-scale film he wanted to make.
- GoofsThe Anna character is meant to be Austrian, but speaks with a (Jacqueline Sassard's native) French accent.
- Quotes
Charley: [reading from learned journal] A statistical analysis of sexual intercourse at Colenso University, Milwaukee showed... that 70% did it in the evening, 29.9% between 2 and 4 in the afternoon and 0.1% during a lecture on Aristotle.
Provost: I'm surprised to hear that Aristotle is on the syllabus in the State of Wisconsin.
- Alternate versionsAccident (1967) was restored by the British Film Institute in 2009 to celebrate the centenary of Joseph Losey.
As Pinter said in a 1966 interview: "So in this film everything is buried, it is implicit. There is really very little dialogue, and that is mostly trivial, meaningless. The drama goes on inside the characters." In the published screenplay his directions for one scene indicate that "the words are fragments of realistic conversation. They are not thoughts..." and what comes across is the brilliant contrast between the nondescript, mundane, day-to-day attempts at communication between the characters combined with a hard look at the underlying reality of the characters' situations. Nothing is like it seems to be.
If you like the work of Harold Pinter, this rarely-available film, is a brilliant addition. See it in combination with the other two to get a full picture of what Losey and Pinter achieved. I've seen the films at least 10 times each and they formed the basis of my 1974 MA thesis on the Pinter-Losey collaboration.
- johnwebber
- Jun 27, 2001
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Accident - Zwischenfall in Oxford
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- £272,811 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $17,161
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,798
- May 25, 2014
- Gross worldwide
- $65,615
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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