Accident (1967) - Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Baker, Jacqueline Sassard, Michael York

Directed by Joseph Losey, written by Harold Pinter. An intense drama about a middle-aged man in crisis. Contentedly married to Rosalind (Vivien Merchant) but fearing emotional stultification, Stephen (Bogarde) yearns for an affair with the enigmatic Anna (Jacqueline Sassard) which, he realizes, could either revitalize or ruin his life. Simultaneously, he is locked in a battle of duelling egos with his student William (Michael York), whose youthful vitality he envies, and with his friend Charley (Baker), whose media prowess and sexual success he covets. Losey and Pinter probe a conflict between intellect and emotion, where an educated elite, who should at least know their own minds, seem incapable of understanding or controlling their inner passions. It is a study of materially comfortable but morally bankrupt people on an emotional collision course, culminating in an accident that will haunt the hero for the rest of his life.