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Bad Timing

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This article is about the 1980 film. For other uses, see Bad Timing (disambiguation).

Bad Timing
Theatrical poster
Directed byNicolas Roeg
Written byYale Udoff
Based onHo Tentato Di Vivere
by Constanzo Constantini
Produced byJeremy Thomas
Starring
CinematographyAnthony B. Richmond
Edited byTony Lawson
Music byRichard Hartley
Production
company
Distributed byRank Film Distributors
Release date
  • 10 April 1980 (1980-04-10)[1]
Running time
122 minutes[2]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$5 million[3]

Bad Timing[i] is a 1980 British psychological drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Art Garfunkel, Theresa Russell, Harvey Keitel, and Denholm Elliott. Set in Vienna and largely told through nonlinear flashbacks, the film chronicles the torrid affair between two Americans—Milena, a depressive young woman, and Alex, a psychoanalyst—as uncovered by a detective (Keitel) investigating Milena's apparent suicide attempt.

Adapted by American playwright Yale Udoff from the Italian story Ho Tentato Di Vivere by Constanzo Constantini, Bad Timing was filmed in the spring of 1979 on location in Vienna, London, Morocco, and New York City.

The film was controversial upon its release, being branded "a sick film made by sick people for sick people" by its own distributor, the Rank Organisation, whose executives were so disturbed by it that they removed their logo from the film's opening.[5] In the United States, it was given an X rating[6] which its producers unsuccessfully appealed, resulting in the decision to release the film there without a rating. It went unreleased on home video in the United States until 2005 when The Criterion Collection released a DVD edition, though it did attain a cult following with American audiences due to its frequent airings on television through the 1980s.[7]

Plot

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In Cold War Vienna, Milena Flaherty, a young American woman in her 20s, is rushed to the emergency room after apparently overdosing in a suicide attempt. With her is Alex Linden, an American psychoanalyst who lives in the city working as a university teacher. While doctors and nurses fight to save Milena's life, an investigator, Netusil, begins investigating the incident. Through fragmented flashbacks, the narrative depicts the story of Alex and Milena's romance.

After meeting her at a party, Alex is enchanted by Milena, a sophisticated but free-spirited military brat. The two begin a whirlwind affair, but shortly into the relationship, Milena is revealed to suffer from severe depression and is married to a much older man, Stefan, whom she occasionally visits across the border in Bratislava. Though Alex initially enjoys Milena's free-spirited lifestyle, he soon becomes embittered by it, as it includes impulsive promiscuity and heavy drinking. Alex begins stalking Milena, and eventually confronts her about her marriage to Stefan. She insists that the marriage is simply platonic, and that she and Stefan are no longer in love. Despite this, Alex begins researching into Stefan's past, and inquires with local government agencies about how Milena can proceed with a divorce, which she refuses.

Alex's jealousy of Milena only continues to grow, and he begins to resent her. After one argument, Milena forcefully impels Alex to have sex with her to sate him, and is disgusted with herself after. In one incident, when the couple vacation in Morocco, their vehicle breaks down, and they hitch a ride from two Moroccan men. Alex is left in the bed of the truck, while Milena sits between the two men, flirting with them during the drive, which Alex keenly observes. Upon arriving in Ouarzazate, Alex suggests that he and Milena return to the United States where he can take a teaching position in New York City, but she insists that they live "in the moment."

Milena begins to question her and Alex's romance when she finds evidence that he has been treating her as a case study. Later, Alex confronts her about a photograph in her apartment that he has obsessed over, which shows her at a lake with another man. She tells him the photo is of her and her late brother, taken in California years prior, but Alex does not believe her. The following morning, Alex confronts a drunken Milena outside her apartment, telling her he cannot bear the thought of her with another man. When she defiantly renounces him, he slaps her. Later, Milena invites him back to her apartment, only to taunt him in kabuki makeup, mockingly presenting herself as the "new Milena." When he storms out, Milena screams at him from her balcony, hurling objects at him onto the street below. The following night, Milena leaves Alex a drunken voice message suggesting she wants to die.

In the present, as doctors attempt to revive the dying Milena, Netusil pieces together the chain of events, culminating in an interview with Alex, who presents himself simply as Milena's friend. Uncovering timeline inconsistencies in Alex's story, Netusil determines what actually occurred: Alex, after finding Milena overdosing on poison in her apartment, looked on as she slowly collapsed, and subsequently raped her once she lost consciousness. Though Netusil has physical evidence suggesting Milena was raped, he is unable to elicit a confession from Alex. Stefan arrives, and reveals Milena has survived the overdose following a life-saving tracheotomy. Alex departs without repercussion, but, before he leaves, Stefan comments that he must love Milena more than his own dignity.

Some time later, in New York, Alex sees Milena passing by in front of the Waldorf-Astoria hotel as he enters a taxi. He calls out to her, and she briefly turns toward him, revealing her tracheotomy scar, before impassively walking away.

Cast

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Production

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Development

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The film was based on an Italian story by Constanzo Constantini called Ho Tentato Di Vivere.[8] Roeg was shown it in the mid-1970s by producer Carlo Ponti. “It was given to me as a kind of longish idea, translated from Italian. It was very different, about two Italians, but it was the same basic idea, about that condition of man and woman."[5]

The story was adapted into a script by Yale Udoff, an American playwright.[9] Udoff recalled: "It was about a wealthy Roman playboy and his girlfriend, and it was like an Alberto Moravia novel, but very bad Moravia, with a feel of the sixties. Although we changed almost everything, it did have a few elements we kept—it had an investigation into a murder. What interested Roeg was the idea of a couple in extremis, a man and a woman battling."[5] The original screenplay and working title for the film was Illusions.[9][10]

Roeg recalled "Yale and I worked very hard on it and we knew what we were going to do in terms of who the people were. But you can’t write every shot... The script is only one part of a film. I shoot a lot of stuff. With Bad Timing, I got back from Vienna and found that the set had been dressed. I love set dressing because to me it is part of the person. So I went out and bought books and things, to be part of the life of Helena, and re-dressed the set."[11]

The film was one of the series of movies greenlit by Tony Williams at the Rank Organisation, who were increasing their production output. Rank made eight films over two years, being mostly conservative choices such as the 1978 film The Thirty-Nine Steps, the third adaptation of the 1915 novel. Bad Timing was the most unusual of the slate of films.

Roeg said " I thought everybody would respond to" the film. "It was about obsessive love and physical obsession. I thought this must touch everyone, from university dons down."[12]

Casting

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Russell and Garfunkel as Milena and Alex

Roeg originally wanted to cast Bruno Ganz and Sissy Spacek in the leads.[13] He eventually cast musician Art Garfunkel (Roeg had successfully used pop stars in his films Performance and The Man Who Fell to Earth) and Theresa Russell, whom Roeg later married.[13] The role of the inspector was rejected by Albert Finney and Malcolm McDowell was unavailable; Harvey Keitel was cast three days before filming.[5]

Roeg recalled that while he was making the film "Art Garfunkel came up to me and said he realized he was really playing me. But I told him that he was only part of it. I challenged him to decipher when I was wearing the trousers and when I was wearing the dress."[14]

While Garfunkel was making the film, his girlfriend, Laurie Bird, committed suicide in New York.[15] Roeg later said the film "fucked up more people in my crew than anything else I’ve done. I know five people whose lives were turned over by that movie, including the cameraman, producer and executive producer. I’m kind of glad it got a limited release."[16]

Roeg elaborated, the film "had a curious effect on people - I sort of understood afterwards why it wasn't good for the company. Funnily enough, while it was being made, someone said to me: 'You know, they're not going to eat this Nic, because you're scratching surfaces that people probably don't want to have exposed.' It was only towards the end, when we were cutting it and we showed it to the musician, who looks at the rough cut. And he said: 'Three years ago, I wouldn't have been able to work on this movie because I kept seeing myself on screen there, I was in that trap, in that hole'."[12]

Filming

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The film was shot over a ten-week period, with principal photography beginning in Vienna on 19 March 1979.[10] After five weeks were completed in Vienna, filming continued through the spring of that year in London.[10] Additional filming took place in Morocco, and finally, in New York City.[10] Four days into the initial shoot, actors Garfunkel and Russell "begged" Roeg to leave the project.[17] By Roeg's account:

Theresa came first. She said, 'I don't think I'm up to this. I'm terribly nervous. Please let me leave.' I said, 'No. I won't let you. I'm glad you feel that way.' Then I asked Art in. I told them, 'This isn't like another movie. We're shooting fragments of scenes; there's nothing to rehearse. We're in a city none of us knows, an empty landscape. I must ask you to trust that I know where I'm going. It's a maze, but there is an end to it.' We had some Martinis, and they agreed. Somehow, it was a release. I felt all right about pushing them further and further.[17]

Garfunkel would later comment on the film's emotionally strenuous production: "I killed myself for that movie. I truly went all out to do as best I could. That film was no ordinary experience. Nick (Roeg) is no ordinary filmmaker, and the story is no ordinary story. What happened in my life during that film is no ordinary happening."[18]

Near the end of the shoot, author Richard Bach sued the film's distributor, Rank Film Distributors, alleging that its title, Illusions, posed "unfair competition" against his recently-released novel of the same name.[10] Bach ultimately dropped the case after Roeg and the production company agreed to change the film's title to Bad Timing.[10]

Post-production

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While the film's screenplay was written in chronological order, significant editing was undertaken in post-production to center the narrative around Inspector Netusil's investigation into Milena's alleged suicide attempt, presenting the events leading up to the event in a fragmented, nonlinear manner.[19] Like with many of Roeg's films, it notably features cross-cutting to link two different timelines of events.[20]

Music

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The film's score was composed by Richard Hartley. It also features a number of other songs as part of its soundtrack:

Release

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Bad Timing was first shown at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 1980,[21] and premiered in London on 10 April 1980.[22] The film was later shown at the Toronto International Film Festival on 12 September 1980.

In the United States, the film was given an X rating by the Motion Picture Association of America, which was appealed by Roeg.[10][17] American film critics Charles Champlin and Judith Crist spoke on behalf of Roeg regarding the appeal, but it was unsuccessful; as a result, the film's producers chose to release the film in the United States without a rating.[23][24]

It screened at the British Film Festival in Manhattan on 21 September 1980[25] before being released citywide in New York City on 22 September 1980.[26] A staggered limited theatrical release expanded throughout the country in the fall of 1980, in major cities such as Los Angeles,[23] Portland,[27] Detroit,[28] Philadelphia,[29] and Boston.[30] It was released in the United States under the slightly altered title Bad Timing/A Sensual Obsession.[4][31] The film was marketed with the tagline: "A Terrifying Love Story".[32]

Home media

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On 27 September 2005, the film was released on DVD by The Criterion Collection.[33][34] This was the first time that it had received an official home video release in the United States.[33] As of 2025, the Criterion DVD is out of print.[35]

In the United Kingdom, Network released the film on Blu-ray on 26 January 2015.[36]

Reception

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Box office

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During its opening week at the Sutton Theater in New York City, the film earned $41,338.[10]

Critical reaction

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Contemporary

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Bad Timing received mixed reviews from film critics, with some finding it brilliant, and others, tasteless.[10] Roeg recalled of the film's divisive response: "I hoped that people would love it, and it was received very angrily. After one screening in Hollywood, two friends didn't speak to me for five years. And I was seeing one for dinner that evening."[37] The film's British distributor, Rank, were appalled by what they saw; one executive called it "a sick film made by sick people for sick people".[38] In response, they removed the Rank logo from all UK prints of the film.[5] John Coleman in the New Statesman gave it a very bad review: "[it has] an overall style which plays merry hell with chronology".[39]

At the United Kingdom premiere, film critic David Robinson in The Times praised Roeg as "a director of panache and individuality, and with an ability to fascinate and compel the attention," and wrote about the unusual editing and the carefully staged scenes: "In other hands all this might only be deception and distraction, but through these fragmented elements Roeg and his ingenious writer Yale Udoff creates a perfectly coherent and intriguing central narrative and relationship."[40] The Observer's Philip French remarked the film's technical brilliance, calling it "a dazzling mosaic, a virtuoso exercise in editing that moves back and forth in time, producing an astonishing range of effects and associations."[41]

Among American critics, Janet Maslin of The New York Times was unimpressed by the film, writing that it is "so jumbled it lacks as steady rhythm, and the story offers few clear highs or lows," and citing this as a trademark feature of Roeg's work.[42] Bob Hicks, writing for The Oregon Journal, conversely praised the film for its narrative style, declaring it "a stylistic triumph, a crackerjack detective story and a marvel of movie voyeurism."[43] Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times also discussed the film's unique narrative style, but felt the storytelling was "more earthbound", adding that Roeg's "command of his images and his majestic manipulation of time have produced an engrossing study of a relationship and of obsessive jealousy."[23]

Michael Blowen of The Boston Globe praised the performances of Russell and Garfunkel, and described the film as: "Challenging and terrifying... Like a nightmare over which you have no control, Bad Timing weaves timeless images that don't disappear when you leave the theater."[30] The Detroit Free Press critic Jack Mathews commented on the film's narrative lapses and visual storytelling, writing: "Good movies are supposed to leave you thinking, and if thinking about incongruities counts, Bad Timing is a good one. Certainly, it is visually interesting and an intellectual challenge."[28]

Ginger Varney, writing for LA Weekly, favorably compared Russell's performance to that of Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box (1929),[31] an association also made by The Oregonian film critic Ted Mahar.[44]

Retrospective

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Bernard Rose later said the film contains moments "that are so daring – not daring because they’re explosive, but because they’re so raw and uncomfortable. It’s one of the great films about what we now call co-dependency. But Nic does it in the city of Freud, and in this wonderful style. It’s a pseudo-detective story, which really works because you’re analysing their relationship rather than watching it and getting involved with it."[45] Kim Newman, reviewing the film for Empire in 2000, awarded it a five star out of five rating, deeming Russell's performance a "career-best" and adding: "This labyrinthine psychological drama is almost like a cut-up Columbo episode, savagely tackling the whodunit and continental romance genres."[46]

Critic Peter Bradshaw, writing in a 2018 retrospective on Roeg's career, declared the film a "toweringly transgressive and challenging masterpiece."[47]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 46% of 13 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.1/10.[48]

Accolades

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Award/association Year Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Ref.
Evening Standard British Film Awards 1980 Best Actor Denholm Elliott Won [49]
Best Film — Drama Bad Timing Nominated [50]
London Film Critics Circle Award 1980 Best Director Nicolas Roeg Won [51]
Toronto Festival of Festivals 1980 People's Choice Award Bad Timing Won [51]

Legacy

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Filmmakers including as Edgar Wright, Christopher Nolan, Danny Boyle, and Steven Soderbergh have cited the film's jarring editing techniques as notable influences on their own work.[52]

The film's title was used by musician Jim O'Rourke for his album Bad Timing, the first in a trilogy of albums which O'Rourke named after films Nicolas Roeg had made during the nineteen-eighties – the other two being Eureka (O'Rourke's 1999 album, title taken from Eureka, Roeg's 1983 film) and Insignificance (O'Rourke's 2001 album, title taken from Insignificance, Roeg's 1985 film).[53] The film Bad Timing was also a partial inspiration for The Glove's 1983 album Blue Sunshine, a side project of The Cure's Robert Smith and Siouxsie and the Banshees' Steven Severin. According to Smith, the song "Piggy in the Mirror" from The Cure's 1984 album The Top was also inspired by the film. The film is also mentioned in the lyrics of "Return", a song from The Cure's 1996 album Wild Mood Swings.

Despite receiving a limited theatrical release in the United States, television rights were acquired by the Los Angeles-based pay cable network Z Channel who aired the film in heavy rotation, allowing it to obtain cult status in the 1980s.[7][54][55]

Notes

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  1. ^ In the United States, the film was released under the stylized alternate title Bad Timing/A Sensual Obsession.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Bad Timing: A Terrifying Love Story". The Guardian. 9 April 1980. p. 4 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ "Bad Timing". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  3. ^ Perry, Simon (Summer 1980). "Finance for Local Talent". Sight and Sound. Vol. 49, no. 3. London. p. 144.
  4. ^ a b "Bad Timing/A Sensual Obsession". Los Angeles Times. 26 October 1980. p. 49 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b c d e Combs, Richard (26 September 2005). "Bad Timing: The Men Who Didn't Know Something". The Criterion Channel. Archived from the original on 31 March 2024.
  6. ^ Miller 2003, pp. 6–16.
  7. ^ a b Coleman, Sarah J. (May 2005). "Cable for Film Geeks" (PDF). The Independent. Columbia University. pp. 28–31. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 April 2025.
  8. ^ Lanza 1989, pp. 57–58.
  9. ^ a b Lanza 1989, p. 56.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Bad Timing". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 1 January 2021.
  11. ^ McFarlane 1997, p. 491.
  12. ^ a b Wood, Jason (3 June 2005). "Nicolas Roeg interview: his brilliant career". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 12 January 2024.
  13. ^ a b Lanza 1989, p. 57.
  14. ^ Lanza 1989, p. 131.
  15. ^ "Art Garfunkel returning to work". Muskegon Chronicle. 16 October 1980. p. 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Lanza 1989, p. 58.
  17. ^ a b c Hasted, Nick (15 August 2000). "Sick, sick, sick, said Rank". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 29 June 2023.
  18. ^ "Garfunkel ready to shed mourning, go back to work". Clarion-Ledger. 15 October 1980. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ Perkins, Rodney (25 May 2009). "Nicholas Roeg's BAD TIMING and the Art of the Bad Relationship". ScreenAnarchy. Archived from the original on 1 April 2025.
  20. ^ Thoss 2017, pp. 184–188.
  21. ^ "Berlin's good British films". The Times. 6 March 1980. p. 13. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  22. ^ "The disturbing imagination of Nicolas Roeg". The Times. 10 April 1980. p. 9. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  23. ^ a b c Champlin, Charles (12 October 1980). "Magnificent obsessions in 'Bad Timing'". Los Angeles Times. pp. 1, 51 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Ringel, Eleanor (15 November 1980). "Stylish Roeg". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. p. 7 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ Smith, Liz (18 September 1980). "Actresses stars of agent's party". Austin American-Statesman. p. C2 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ Ebert, Roger (25 October 1980). "Bad Timing". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 24 December 2024.
  27. ^ Hicks, Bob (18 December 1980). "At the movies". The Oregon Journal. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ a b Mathews, Jack (31 October 1980). "'Bad Timing' gets all wound up in itself". Detroit Free Press. p. 19 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ Baltake, Joe (24 October 1980). "'Bad Timing': Exciting, But Not For Everyone". Philadelphia Daily News. p. 3 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ a b Blowen, Michael (17 October 1980). "'Bad Timing' is challenging, frightening". The Boston Globe. p. 20 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ a b Varney, Ginger (23 October 1980). "Love In Its Murderous Obsession". LA Weekly. pp. 26–27 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^ Selavy, Virginie (3 May 2007). "Bad Timing". Electric Sheep Magazine. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024.
  33. ^ a b Gilchrist, Todd (15 November 2005). "Bad Timing". IGN. Archived from the original on 1 April 2025.
  34. ^ Jane, Ian (27 September 2005). "Bad Timing - Criterion Collection". DVD Talk. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017.
  35. ^ "Bad Timing". The Criterion Collection. Archived from the original on 1 April 2025.
  36. ^ "Bad Timing Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2025.
  37. ^ Brooks, Xan (10 July 1999). "Time and time again". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 April 2023.
  38. ^ Kendrick, James. "Bad Timing". Qnetwork. Archived from the original on 21 November 2006.
  39. ^ Sinyard 1991, p. 69.
  40. ^ "Roeg's new Curiosity Shop". The Times. 11 April 1980. p. 10. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  41. ^ French, Philip (13 April 1980). "Riches from Roeg". The Observer. p. 14 – via Newspapers.com.
  42. ^ Maslin, Janet (21 September 1980). "Film: Roeg 'Bad Timing' Starring Art Garfunkel". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024.
  43. ^ Hicks, Bob (20 November 1980). "Bad Timing: At Last, a REAL Adult Movie". The Oregon Journal. p. 21 – via Newspapers.com.
  44. ^ Mahar, Ted (26 November 1980). "Sparring personalities build suspense of 'Bad Timing'". The Oregonian. p. 6 – via Newspapers.com.
  45. ^ Thompson, David (25 November 2018). "Mystic Nic: in praise of Nicolas Roeg". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 31 March 2025.
  46. ^ Newman, Kim (1 January 2000). "Bad Timing Review". Empire. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021.
  47. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (24 November 2018). "Nicolas Roeg: a daring film-maker of passionate and visceral brilliance". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 October 2023.
  48. ^ "Bad Timing". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 30 March 2025. Edit this at Wikidata
  49. ^ "Chasing the big prizes". Evening Standard. 23 October 1980. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  50. ^ "Glittering night for the stars..." Evening Standard. 25 November 1980. p. 1 – via Newspapers.com.
  51. ^ a b Bose, Swapnil Dhruv (23 November 2020). "Nicolas Roeg and his invaluable influence on cinema". Far Out. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023.
  52. ^ Haasbroek, Luc (24 July 2012). "10 Underrated Movies Recommended by Christopher Nolan". Collider. Archived from the original on 28 January 2023.
  53. ^ Ratliff, Ben (2 September 2009). "Once Insider, Now Outsider, and Liking It". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 April 2023.
  54. ^ "Film". The Independent Film & Video Monthly. 28. Foundation for Independent Video and Film: 28. 2005. ISSN 1077-8918.
  55. ^ Macaulay, Scott (14 May 2005). "Catching some ZZZZZs". Filmmaker. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024.

Sources

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