Bad Timing

Bad Timing is a 1980 British psychological drama film. It was directed by Nicolas Roeg and starred 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 (Russell), a depressive young woman, and Alex (Garfunkel), a psychoanalyst—as uncovered by a detective (Keitel) investigating Milena's apparent suicide attempt. The film was adapted by the American playwright Yale Udoff from the Italian story Ho Tentato Di Vivere by Costanzo Costantini. 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. In the United States, it was given an X rating 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. The film won the People's Choice Award at the 5th Toronto International Film Festival.