ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the work of various film scholars who have written about the filmic presentation of the staircase across several genres and different filmmakers. It discusses whether there is any consistency in meanings of the upward and downward movement via the staircase in film and seeks to discover what these might be. The chapter is devoted to Joseph Losey's film The Servant, where the staircase forms the central motif of the film. It discusses the stairs which are generally in the interiors of dwelling places, for the most part private homes. The chapter explains the meaning of movement up and down a flight of stairs is inconsistent and the connotations vary according to the use and context of this setting within the narrative. Whatever may be found at the top or bottom of the staircase, whether it is familiar, anticipated, dreaded or unknown dictate the tenor of the ascent or descent.
