Bad Timing (1980)

Director:

Nicolas Roeg

Writer:

Yale Udoff (screenplay)

Release Date:

October 1980 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

His terrifying obsession took them to the brink of death and beyond. [Video Australia]

Plot:

The setting is Vienna. A young American woman is brought to a hospital after overdosing on pills, apparently in a suicide attempt...

Plot Keywords:

Professor | Detective | Doctor | Flashback | Drinking

Awards:

3 wins

Cast

Art Garfunkel	...	Alex Linden
Theresa Russell	...	Milena Flaherty
Harvey Keitel	...	Inspector Netusil
Denholm Elliott	...	Stefan Vognic
Daniel Massey	...	Foppish Man
Dana Gillespie	...	Amy Miller
William Hootkins	...	Col. Taylor
Eugene Lipinski	...	Hospital Policeman
George Roubicek	...	Policeman #1
Stefan Gryff	...	Policeman #2
Sevilla Delofski	...	Czech Receptionist
Robert Walker	...	Konrad
Gertan Klauber	...	Ambulance Man
Ania Marson	...	Dr. Schneider
Lex van Delden	...	Young Doctor

Also Known As:

Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession (USA)
Illusions (UK) (working title)

Runtime:

123 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German | Czech | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:R21 | Canada:18+ (Ontario) | UK:18 | West Germany:18 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Australia:R | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:R | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Rank Organisation, The

Trivia:

Theresa Russell and Nicolas Roeg fell in love during the shooting of the film. They later married, had two children and were later divorced.

Quotes:

Milena Flaherty: Leave and you kill me. Leave and I'm dead.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Zomergasten: (#18.2)" (2005)

Soundtrack:

Berceuse

intense work from forgotten master

Bad Timing is not an easy film, but one that rewards effort. Art Garfunkel joins the line (Jagger, Bowie) of singers who produced career best acting performances for this director - the scene of him smoking while staring over a bridge into the abyss of his life is worth buying the dvd alone - and Theresa Russell is simply incendiary. The story is a relatively simple one of how two people who should never have got together become obsessed with each other, but is told in Nicolas Roeg's fluid, labyrinthine style with flashes back and forward and disconcerting edits. The sexual content is extreme for some tastes, but raw and painfully honest in a way which defies simple titillation. Intense work from one of the giants of British and world cinema, now sadly neglected, and one of a string of great films, Performance, Walkabout, Don't Look Now and The Man Who Fell to Earth which mark Nicolas Roeg out as a great director.