Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

Bad Timing Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 16, 2015

Nicolas Roeg's "Bad Timing" (1980) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Network. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film; new video interview with producer Jeremy Thomas; promotional materials; and a gallery of deleted scenes. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

The lovers

The film is structured as a giant puzzle. Initially, scattered flashbacks reveal that a woman has attempted to commit suicide and that she has been rushed to a hospital. Then other flashbacks reveal that she was in a relationship with a man who is questioned by the police. Different names and locations are mentioned together, but it isn’t easy to see the connections between them.

A plot emerges from the chaos, but one feels that it will be a while before everything begins to make sense. The man, Alex (Art Garfunkel), is an American psychoanalyst who has been living and working in post-war Vienna. It is there that he has met the woman, Milena (Theresa Russell), who is now fighting for her life in the hospital. New flashbacks show them making love and then arguing about silly things, but it is still impossible to tell if they were truly in love.

Later on, an overly ambitious detective (Harvey Keitel) suggests that Milena may not have attempted to kill herself and further complicates the plot. He frequently meets Alex and with the information he shares with him begins to reconstruct the final hours before Milena was rushed to the hospital. But the deeper the detective digs, the harder it becomes to understand Alex and Milena’s relationship.

Nicolas Roeg’s Bad Timing fits somewhere between Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris and Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Betty Blue. It is infused with the same energy and observes sexual obsession from the same unique prism Bertolucci and Beineix’s films do.

Its plot structure, however, gives it a distinctive noirish vibe. Initially, it seems like the film would be content to examine only Alex and Milena’s relationship, but the Austrian capital gradually becomes a key character as well. While it constantly evolves – during the day it looks vibrant and safe but at night it becomes lonely and depressing – it creates the impression that it has the ability to alter people’s perception of reality. The transformations create a very odd environment that makes some of the flashbacks and the intimate exchanges between Alex and Milena look and sound quite surreal.

And yet when it is all said and done it becomes painfully obvious that Alex and Milena are in fact real people whose intense feelings have simply driven them to the brink of madness. Their relationship – and it has to be said that framing it as a romantic relationship would have been a major misrepresentation as their desire is so destructive that it cannot possibly be associated with true love – has collapsed and in the process changed their personalities beyond recognition. The bulk of the film examines precisely the unusual intensity of these feelings and how they erode the foundation of Alex and Milena’s relationship.

The film is based on a script by American writer Yale Udoff, but it was Roeg’s vision (and striking visual interpretation of the script) that gave it its identity. The script itself is based on a novel whose rights producer Jeremy Thomas purchased from Carlo Ponti. (Ponti, one of the leading post-war producers in Italy, worked with such iconic directors as Federico Fellini, Jacques Demy, Jean-Luc Godrad, Vittorio De Sica, and David Lean).

Russell is sensational as the free-spirited beauty who becomes severely depressed. Garfunkel’s intensity is somewhat underwhelming, but his performance is still largely effective. Keitel is great as the suspicious detective. There is also a memorable cameo by the late Denholm Elliott.

The film’s soundtrack features original music by Richard Hartley (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) and classic tunes by Tom Waits (“An Invitation To The Blues”), The Who (“Who Are You”), and Billie Holiday (“It’s the Same Old Story”), amongst others.

Bad Timing Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.34:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Nicolas Roeg's Bad Timing arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Network.

The high-definition transfer has been struck from a dated master with some obvious issues. There are a few decent looking close-ups (see screencapture #15), but most of the panoramic shots appear quite flat. Light noise, for instance, frequently sneaks in and affects image depth (see screencapture #10). Additionally, there are traces of light filtering and sharpening adjustments that further impact depth and clarity. Some of the basic color tonalities remain stable, but it is easy to see that color saturation is problematic (see screencapture #14). There are tiny scratches, flecks, and even a few vertical lines that occasionally pop up. Overall image stability is good. To sum it all up, this is indeed a fairly unimpressive presentation of Bad Timing. The Blu-ray release offers some minor upgrades in quality over the existing R1 DVD release, but the film clearly can and should look a lot better in high-definition. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Bad Timing Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

Depth is not overly impressive, but it isn't disappointing either. Most of the intimate exchanges, for instance, sound great, while some of the outdoor footage from the flashbacks is a bit too thin (see the short segment with the ambulance). However, the music is well rounded and there are no balance issues. The dialog is crisp, stable, and easy to follow. Lastly, there is no distracting background hiss, audio dropouts, or digital distortions to report in this review.

Bad Timing Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Theatrical Trailer - original theatrical trailer for Bad Timing. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Teaser Trailer - original teaser trailer for Bad Timing. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Deleted Scenes - a collection of deleted scenes. In English, not subtitled. (17 min).

• Gallery - gallery of promotional materials for Bad Timing. (8 min).

• Jeremy Thomas Interview - in this new video interview, producer Jeremy Thomas recalls how he became involved with Bad Timing, and discusses the mixed reviews the film received after its premiere, its difficult distribution history, Nicolas Roeg's directing methods, etc. In English, not subtitled. (11 min).

Bad Timing Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Network's new Blu-ray release of Nicolas Roeg's once very controversial film Bad Timing offers some improvements in quality over existing DVD releases, but it is quite clear that a fresh master is needed so that the film can look as good as it should. I have to speculate that eventually Criterion will upgrade their DVD release of Bad Timing, but until then this is probably the best presentation we will have on the market. Consider adding the Blu-ray to your collections only if you find it on sale.