One of the excellent groundbreaking British films of the 60's and 70's.

The 60's and 70's were notable for some really groundbreaking films with food for thought. Among them, Room at the Top, Accident, The Hireling, the Go Between, Far From the Madding Crowd, Sons and Lovers, Women in Love, Lady Chatterly's Lover, and The Servant, which dealt with the disastrous effects of people trying to rise above their class.

While the relationship between Lady Franklin and the hired driver is the main focus of the film, the background plot is the after effects of the recent WWI on all the characters, most of whom appear to be war widows, or have returned from the horrors of the trenches. Ledbetter served at the front as a Sergeant Major, under the young Captain, now paying court to Lady Franklin, and who never seems to forget the class divide. Some of his comments to Ledbetter are unintentionally offensive. All three major characters are scarred by the recent war. Ledbetter tries to set himself up in a hire car business by purchasing a Rolls. The Captain intends to stand for parliament, as an independent. After seeing the way the other half live, Ledbetter does not want to remain with his own class. Lady Franklin meanwhile, has no idea how the little people live. In trying to return to normality, it becomes more and more apparent that both worlds have been swept away. It is fine for Ledbetter to drive the wealthy widowed Lady Franklin out to take the air to recover from her melancholy, and to engage in conversation, but when it comes to a more intimate relationship, he is put firmly into his place as she takes up with a man of her own class whom she does not really care for, more to observe social conventions than for any other reason.

The performances are very subtle, yet the actors convey exactly what they are trying to say. For me the ending was too melodramatic and out of place, but you can always switch off at that point if you don't like it. A decade later A Passage to India and Heat and Dust continued in the same vein. Other than Birdsong and Redemption, today's offerings seem trite by comparison.