Bad Timing
Theatrical release poster
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
Editing by	Tony Lawson
Distributed by	Rank Organisation (UK)
Release date(s)	September 12, 1980 (Toronto Film Festival)
Running time	122 Min Uncut Restored Version 129 Min Uncut Version
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Bad Timing is a 1980 film directed by Nicolas Roeg, produced by Jeremy Thomas. The title of this movie was also used by musician Jim O'Rourke for his album Bad Timing.

[edit] Storyline

In Vienna, a young American woman in her twenties (Russell) is rushed to the emergency room after apparently overdosing. With her is Alex Linden, an American psychiatrist (Garfunkel) teaching in Vienna. Through a series of fragment flashbacks the film tells the story of their romance, which ends up becoming a sexual obsession. The woman, Milena, suffers from depression and is still married to a much older man (Elliott) whom she crosses the border to see at times. Linden likes her free spirited ways at first, then grows tired of her lifestyle, which includes relationships with other men and heavy drinking. He spies on Milena and eventually tries to control her. At the hospital, an investigator (Keitel) realises that there may be more to the case than a simple suicide attempt. He investigates and tries to get Linden to confess to possible crimes involved with the case.

[edit] Critical reaction

The film received mixed reviews. Some found the film brilliant while others found the film tasteless. Its UK distributor, Rank, were appalled by what they saw, one executive calling it "a sick film made by sick people for sick people."^[1] In response, they removed the Rank logo from all UK prints of the film. John Coleman in The New Statesman gave it a very bad review ".^[2][it has] an overall style which plays merry hell with chronology"

The film received the Toronto Film Festival's highest honour, the People's Choice Award, in 1980 and the London Film Critics Circle Award for Best Director.

[edit] Featured cast

• Art Garfunkel as Alex Linden
• Theresa Russell as Milena Flaherty
• Harvey Keitel as Inspector Netusil
• Denholm Elliott as Stefan Vognic
• Daniel Massey as Foppish Man

[edit] References

• Sinyard, Neil (1991) The Films of Nicolas Roeg. London: Charles Letts; pp. 68–79

[edit] External links

• Bad Timing at the Internet Movie Database
• Bad Timing at Allmovie
• "Criterion Collection essay by Richard Combs". http://www.criterion.com/asp/release.asp?id=303&eid=435&section=essay.