Bad Timing - Criterion Collection (1980)

Bad Timing DVD

Mail service by the seller was fine, but the DVD did not work. We tried it in several players, but to no avail. When I emailed the seller, they said they would give me a credit and just keep the DVD. Why should I keep a DVD that does not play? Wasted postage, but what else can they do. And I still don't have the movie I wanted.... September 8, 2008

It's a Keeper

Nicolas Roeg is one of my favorite directors. Although he still directs today, his career started, hit its peak, and ended between his first film "Performance" and this film. Many people refer to this as Roeg's last great film and it is a great film. Better than "Performance" and "The Man Who Fell to Earth," but lacking the brilliance of "Walkabout" and "Don't Look Now." I've owned this film for nearly a year and have just now watched it and I can't believe I waited this long; This is really a terrific film. Roeg was always a director that played with chronology, but this film's chronology is certainly the most askewed of his other films. The film tells three stories at once, essentially. The first being why Milena Flaherty (Theresa Russell) is in the hospital. The second being the events leading up to her getting there. And the third being the relationship between Milena and Dr. Alex Linden (Art Garfunkel, in a terrific, underrated performance). Harvey Keitel also stars as Inspector Netusil, who's trying to find out exactly what happened the night that Milena wound up in the hospital. The film paints a visually haunting portrait of sexual obsession with powerhouse performances by Garfunkel and Russell. I've heard some reviewers call this film pretentious and it has its moments of pretentious-ness, but it's pretty realistic in my opinion...At least as a portrait of how sexual obsession can drive a person mad. If you're looking for Roeg films, I'd begin with "Walkabout" but don't wait long to see "Bad Timing," it's a keeper.

GRADE: A-
September 30, 2007

Theresa Russell is a tour de force in Roeg's classic film

We should get one thing out of the way first: Nicholas Roeg's films are not everybody. Moving on, this is possibly Roeg's best work and essential viewing for any movie lover or fan of great acting. Released in 1980, this movie was not at all well recieved. Rank, the film's distributor stalled on the film's release, there was the controversey over an X rating and critics and viewers, at the time, obviously didn't know what to make of it. Twenty five years later with so many changes in what is accepted in movies today, it might be seen as lighter fare....well, maybe.

Nicholas Roeg could easily be passed off as a "shock director", but he is a unique talent who makes movies that have so many layers of meaning that it takes more than one viewing, maybe even two to understand what his movies are really about. The setting is cold war Vienna. Alex, a famous psychiatrist meets Meleana, an artistic,talented beauty without an occupation. Their attraction is immediate, their story unfolds through a series of flashbacks. Roeg makes it clear from the very beginning that the story does not have a happy ending. It is up to the audience to stay and find out why.

Alex appears to be quite normal from the beginning. He has the high paying job, the renowned reputaion, a glamouras life of high society friends. Everything about Alex symbolizes control and normalcy. Later in the film, though, we find that this isn't so. Alex is may appear like this on the surface, but he is truly an insecure man.

Which might be why he is so intrigued of Meleana from the very beginning. Meleana represents everything that Alex is not and can never be. Leaning in a hallway at a party, she stops him dead in his tracks by blocking him with her leg. Her presence is show stopping in the film and it's meant to be. Meleana is street smart, daring, wise, experienced and most importantly INDEPENDANT. She doesn't rely on anyone or have any kind of expectaions from anyone. She is a legitimate free spirit. Alex may not know it then, but he's drawn to her for more than her beauty. She fills in all the things he can't or ever hope to.

Meleana is not perfect. As most free spirits are she is somewhat hypocritical, irresponsible and surperficial. But she doesn't try to hide things. She does love Alex, but she refuses to let it destroy who she is and what she is about. Alex, on the other hand, control freak that he is, is determined to change her. He wants to make Meleana normal, when he can't do that, his sickness starts and it becomes out of control, ending in disaster.

This is not just a movie about "sexual obsession", as has been touted, but about "obsession". Period. Roeg is making a very strong case about turning people into objects and not treating them or "loving" them as how they truly are. As Meleana tries to convey to Alex to an embarrassing and painful end, why can't he love her and trust her for who she is? This begs to question, is Meleana really irresponsible or is she just being who she is, without any promises to anyone? Is Alex so insecure with himself that he can't accept a person's, god forbid a WOMAN, to be independant?

Most of the answers lie in the movie's ending, which is devastating and upsetting. I venture to guess it's the kind of ending that Alfred Hitchcock would have attempted, if he wasn't worried about the outcome and how it would effect him later in his career. Though it is not intentional, the film does seems to unravel in a Hitchcock fashion. And this is something that was definatey overlooked when it was released, overshadowed by all of the controversey. It is a testatment to Roeg's talent and ability as a filmmaker. The story unfolds as vital drama but also as a suspenseful thriller.

Many eyebrowes were raised i'm sure to the casting of Art Garfunkel. But this makes perfect sense within the first ten minutes of the film. Garfunkel, hands down already looks the part: the receding hairline of goofy hair, the lanky body frame and the effeminate physicality and tone of voice. Garfunkel also has a boyish innocence that comes across throughout the film. He is totally in tune with who the character is. It's a performance that was probably overlooked and underrated. A very smart choice by the director to choose someone other than an actor expected to fill the part.

Alex signifies someone who isn't strong or secure. But Meleana is attracted to him for these very reasons. At a restaurant, when Alex becomes upset with Meleana flirting with another man, she tells him, "you're sexier", as she throws herself at him. Meleana is happy with who he is, it's Alex who can't accept himself and lets his insecurity go awry.

Theresa Russell is groundbreaking in the role of Meleana. It is hard to imagine that Russell was only 22 when she played the role. And it's impossible to think of another actress from that time playing a role like this. Russell proved herself early in her career playing alongside great 70's icons like Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro. But Russell was obviously not going to play along by Hollywood's standards of what a beautiful actress should aspire to. Russell is an intelligent actress and an independant thinker. These characteristics are brought to the very center of Meleana. Russell inhabits the character, she's not "playing" a character. It is astonishing to watch her for the time she is onscreen. At one moment she is fine, in another she is hurt at the very center of her being, in another she experiences a bizarre bipolar episode, putting on clown makeup and throwing bottles onto an empty street at night. It's hard to remember when an actress took these kind of roles, let alone these kind of chances on the screen. Unfortunately, Russel's talent was overlooked that year because of the movie's subject matter and controversey. It's the kind of performance that should be studied by actors and directors alike.

The same can be said for Nicholas Roeg. He is a true original. Sadly, it seems that slew of other directors, David Lynch comes to mind, would be inspired and later lionized for the road that he paved for them. Roeg has continued to make films as controversal and important like Bad Timing. But it is obvious that this is the movie that he should be known for and continue to be seen.



February 6, 2007

Nicolas Roeg's 1980 film on a deeply troubled relationship

My only memory of the film "Bad Timing" is seeing a photograph in one of the annual looks at Sex in the Cinema in "Playboy" of the totally nude Art Garfunkel and Theresa Russell in bed. My thought at the time was that whereas I did not understand why Garfunkel would rather be making movies than record albums with Paul Simon, that the photograph could provide an explanation of sorts. I did not flash on the that photograph until the appropriate scene in this 1980 film from director Nicolas Roeg popped up. I checked out the film because it is a Criterion Collection edition and basically I am game for anything they want to put out.

"Bad Timing" begins in a museum in Vienna, Austria where the paintings of Gustav Klimt are contrasted with the Tom Waits song "Invitation to the Blues," while Dr. Alex Linden (Garfunkel) and Milena Flaherty (Russell) check out the paintings and each other. Then the wailing of a siren makes its presence known and an ambulance is racing down the street while inside Milena is fighting for her life and apologizing to somebody named Stefan, while Alex sits there making sure the paramedic does not look at more than he should. From those two defining points of this relationship we begin jumping around in terms of both time and place. Milena took an overdose of pills and called Alex, who called the police. But Inspector Netusil (Harvey Keitel), who is assigned to the case, does not like what he hears from Alex in the way of answers to his questions. Netusil's investigation proceeds in a chronological, but the story of Alex and Milena's relationship jumps all over the place until we finally get to the scene that makes everything clear, although only we are privileged to the ultimate truth.

There is an infamous comment about "Bad Timing," made at the time it came out by an studio executive in England, that this was "a sick film made by sick people for sick people" (it is quoted on one of the bonus features. Stefan Vognic (Denholm Elliott) is Milena's husband, but she ends up having in intense sexually-charged relationship with Alex, a reserach psychiatrist from New York City who is teaching in Vienna. He is something of a cold fish and she tends to drink too much and could be something of a manic depressive given the highs and lows she goes through, but it could just be a question of how sober she is at any given time. A key scene regarding their relationship takes place on some stairs, where she starts ripping off her underwear and taunting Alex to take her then and there, which he does. I would not say that these two are sick, but what might be an erotic act from the perspective of the viewing does not seem to bring either one of them much pleasure beyond the sexual.

There is a curious disconnect between these two characters and I was wondering if this was more because it was the intent of the director or because Garfunkle's acting talent is limited, but then I remembered that I was not able to connect with either of Roeg's most noted earlier films, "Don't Look Now" and "The Man Who Fell to Earth." This guy and I are simply on different wavelenghts, besides, while I understand what he sees in her, but her interest in him has to be taken at face value for the story to work. Even if you agree that these are sick people, there is the question of exactly how they are sick and which one of them is sicker. But do not worry, that last issue will be clearly settled for you in the end. As it was, the question of why Milena would try to kill herself over Alex kept running into the solid certainty that he was not worth the effort. Only when we get to the truth of the matter did this film really command my attention, but what it revealed was hardly heartening or uplifting, and the film's final punch-line only wallows it its view of the world. The fact that the director ended up marrying his female star also ends up being worrisome food for thought. June 25, 2006

GOOD "TIMING"...

While I occasionally grew frustrated with this film, I soon realized what director Roeg was trying to do. This should be left up to the individual viewer to figure out. What should be particularly noted here is not only the gorgeous location photography, the gorgeous indoor photography and Roeg's use of color, but also the wonderful performance of Theresa Russell as Milena the wanton heroine. She is simply beautiful. The story of two polar opposites (Art Garfunkel and Russell) meeting and colliding in a psycho-sexual relationship is told in fragmented, flashback fashion that can get confusing. But if you stick with it, it has a powerful charge. It is in no way pleasant or amusing. The culmination of their unhappy relationship is disturbing and even appalling. There have been other films with similar themes ("Betty Blue" and "Turkish Delight" come to mind) but they were'nt quite this dark. Recommended for adults only. May 8, 2006

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