Accidente

The drama is painstakingly underplayed, brilliantly acted (except for Sassard's wooden performance), its stylistic realism is smashing and its dialogue is spitefully provocative. The humor is in its morbid satirical view of how snobbish and pretentious academia can be and how foolish older men can get over a younger pretty woman. It's a dark film, with a jaundiced view of love that might not appeal to everyone. But its unbridled view of the stifling world of academia is brilliantly realized and shot, and it holds one's interest throughout because of its wit, its multilayered complexity and how absorbing it all is.

Joseph Losey's "Accident," with screenplay by Harold Pinter, has crept into four neighborhood theaters for a week's run. No wonder we have waited so long for the 1967 British winner at Cannes; this quiet, brilliant film, which seems to consist of dialog and in fact consists of emotion, must have worried the exhibitors. By sneaking it in for a week with a minimum of advertising, they will no doubt make their fears come true.