Bad Timing
| Bad Timing | |
|---|---|
Criterion Collection DVD art
|
|
| Directed by | Nicolas Roeg |
| Produced by | Jeremy Thomas |
| Written by | Yale Udoff |
| Starring |
Art Garfunkel Theresa Russell Harvey Keitel Denholm Elliott Daniel Massey |
| Music by | Richard Hartley |
| Cinematography | Anthony B. Richmond |
| Edited by | Tony Lawson |
|
Production
company |
|
| Distributed by | Rank Film Distributors (UK) |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
122 minutes (uncut restored version) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Bad Timing is a 1980 British psychological thriller film directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Art Garfunkel, Theresa Russell, Harvey Keitel and Denholm Elliott. The plot focuses on an American woman and a psychology professor living in Vienna, and, largely told through nonlinear flashbacks, examines the details of their turbulent relationship as uncovered by a detective investigating her apparent suicide attempt.
The film gained a considerable amount of controversy upon its release, being branded "a sick film made by sick people for sick people" by its own distributor, Rank Organisation, and was given an X rating in the United States. The film was also shown under the title Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession before being shelved by the distributor. It went unreleased on home video in the United States until 2005 when the rights were purchased by The Criterion Collection for a DVD release.
In Cold War Vienna, Milena (Russell), a young American woman in her twenties, is rushed to the emergency room after apparently overdosing. With her is Alex Linden (Garfunkel), an American psychiatrist who lives in the city as a teacher. Through myriad fragmented flashbacks, the narrative depicts the story of their romance, which ultimately amounts to an unhealthy sexual obsession on the part of Alex.
Through these developments, Milena is revealed to suffer from depression while still being married to a much older man, Stefan (Elliott), whom she occasionally crosses the border to see during the course of her affair with Alex. Though Linden initially enjoys her free-spirited ways, he grows tired of, and embittered at, her lifestyle, which includes impulsive promiscuity and heavy drinking. Through spying on Milena, Alex becomes emotionally strained, and eventually tries to control her – leading to horrifying results, due in large part to very bad timing.
...
Wikipedia