The Committee 1968

The film opens with the unnamed male protagonist, Tom Kempinski as Victim, riding in a car with a driver who tries to strike up a conversation. When they stop to inspect a suspected engine problem, the driver climbs out, thinking something is wrong. In a shocking turn, the protagonist slams the bonnet down on the driver’s head, decapitating him. He then sews the head back on, the driver waking to find himself alive. The protagonist calmly tells him to leave and never return.

Years later, the central figure, Paul Jones, is invited to join The Committee, a body of about 300 people who claim to keep society functioning but actually do very little. They meet at a country estate, where they pass their off-hours swimming, playing tennis, and sailing, before hosting a dance with a live performance by Arthur Brown one evening. The protagonist grows increasingly paranoid that the Committee has been assembled because of him, and he unexpectedly runs into the driver from the earlier scene at the estate, though the man does not remember him.

A key portion of the story unfolds as the central figure spends long stretches in dialogue with The Committee’s director, Robert Langdon Lloyd. This sequence forms the emotional backbone of the film and features much of the music Pink Floyd wrote for the project, underscoring the tension between individual perception and institutional power.

As the weekend retreat nears its end, the protagonist meets a young woman, Pauline Munro, while checking out and helps carry her bags to her car. She offers him a ride, and they drive off together. She asks if he plays bridge, but he remains silent, and the film ends with the open road ahead, leaving questions about motive, memory, and belonging to linger.