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United Kingdom
5.8 1h 48m

The Hireling

Based on the novel by L. P. Hartley, The Hireling is a dissection of antiquated but hardly dormant British class distinctions as a lonely socialite and her chauffeur become more than friends.

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Top Cast

  • Robert Shaw

    Robert Shaw

    Steven Ledbetter

  • Sarah Miles

    Sarah Miles

    Lady Franklin

  • Peter Egan

    Peter Egan

    Captain Hugh Cantrip

  • Caroline Mortimer

    Caroline Mortimer

    Connie

  • Elizabeth Sellars

    Elizabeth Sellars

    Lady Franklin's mother

  • Ian Hogg

    Ian Hogg

    Davis

  • Lyndon Brook

    Lyndon Brook

    Doctor

  • Patricia Lawrence

    Patricia Lawrence

    Mrs. Hansen

  • Petra Markham

    Petra Markham

    Edith

Overview

Based on the novel by L. P. Hartley, The Hireling is a dissection of antiquated but hardly dormant British class distinctions as a lonely socialite and her chauffeur become more than friends.

Rating

5.8 / 10
26 Reviews
1 Popular

1 Reviews

  • CinemaSerf
    CinemaSerf
    7 Aug 2, 2025

    “Lady Franklin” (Sarah Miles) is reduced to an emotional black fog following the death of her husband during the War and her close friends seem unable to reach her. It might be that her chauffeur can do that, as she gradually begins to bond with “Steven” (Robert Shaw). He is a fastidious and proud, self-employed, gent who is polite and charming to her. He even lets her sit in the front with him - despite the inappropriateness, familiarity even, of this. She begins to treat him more like a confidant, hiring him more often and spending more time with him for the sake of it. As time progresses, he begins to find himself more drawn to her, but he knows the class divide is immense and that she is also being courted by veteran “Capt. Cantrip” (Peter Egan) whom we can determine fairly easily isn’t so much interested in her as in her fortune. What chance the societal norms can be broken? Can anything ever transpire between them? When it comes down to it, does she actually want it to? Shaw and Miles are on great form here. The former delivers a delicately accumulating characterisation of a man conflicted by an innate understanding of his own position in the great scheme of things, but one increasingly infatuated in and concerned for his employer. The latter plays the emotionally disturbed character equally effectively, with a degree of demure frustration that seems to be desperate to break from her shell of conformity, whilst equally addicted to it’s security. It’s a grand looking production with loads of attention to the detail in the production design, but it is really the cumulating toxicity that emanates from Shaw that seals the seal here, showing the iniquities of the class system don’t just work in the one direction.

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