TO WHAT EXTENT DOES THE MISE-EN-

SCÈNE SHOW THE INVERSION OF

POWER RELATIONS BETWEEN THE
CHARACTERS IN THE SERVANT?
Chiara Torrese
THE MISE-EN-SCÈNE IS
ESSENTIAL TO SHOW
THE INVERSION OF
POWER RELATIONS
BETWEEN TONY AND
BARRETT
 Mise-en-scène
◦ “the staging of a play, including the setting, arrangement of
the actors, etc.”

◦ “the direction of a film, emphasizing the image created by

setting, props, lighting, actors' movements, etc.”

◦ “the general surroundings, environment”

Collins dictionary
1. OPENING SCENE The house
2. THE INTERVIEW
3. SEX SCENE
The
4. GAME IN THE staircase
STAIRCASE
1. OPENING SCENE
Tony’s house
v Upper-class British street

v Higher hierarchical position

 Opening scene

Enters the house unannounced Visiting the house

 Barrett finds Tony sleeping

• Weak position
• Low-angle shot
Empty house
◦ Allows Barrett to become the dominant power
Barrett supervises how the house is
decorated
2. THE INTERVIEW
The interview
◦The room is empty. Only
two chairs in the middle
of the room
◦Reversal of power
◦Barrett on the foreground
and center of the room
3. SEX SCENE
Barrett in Tony’s room

• Inversion of power
• Invading Tony’s
privacy
• Barrett’s figure
between Susan
and Tony
• In Tony’s room
4. THE GAME IN THE
STAIRCASE
1 3

2
 CONCLUSION
The mise-en-scène is essential to show the inversion of
power relations between Barrett and Tony.

The house and staircase allow Barrett to take power

over Tony
Bibliography
• Armion, C. and Armion, C. (2007). Shakespeare et Pinter : la maison victorienne comme scène de
théâtre. [online] Sens public. Available at: http://www.sens-public.org/articles/465/ [Accessed 4
Dec. 2021].

• Collinsdictionary.com. (2019). Definition of mise en scène. [online] Available at:

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/mise-en-scene.

• Ford, C. (2014). Mutations of Gender, Genre and the British Home in “The Servant” and
“Orlando.” Spaces Between: An Undergraduate Feminist Journal, [online] 2. Available at:
https://journals.library.ualberta.ca/spacesbetween/index.php/spacesbetween/article/view/23264
[Accessed 4 Dec. 2021].

• Marin-Lamellet, A.-L. (2017). “He may be a servant but he’s still a human being” : le corps et
l’intime dans le couple maître/valet de The Servant (Joseph Losey, 1963). Textes et contextes,
[online] (12.2). Available at: https://preo.u
bourgogne.fr/textesetcontextes/index.php?id=1660&lang=fr [Accessed 4 Dec. 2021].

• Palmer, J. and Riley, M. (2008). The films of Joseph Losey. Cambridge: Cambridge University.