Trailer
Plot summary
An American woman, Milena Flaherty, is taken to a hospital in Cold War Vienna after an overdose while doctors fight to save her life. Alex Linden, an American psychoanalyst who teaches at a university in the city, is with her, and Inspector Netusil investigates the incident. The affair between Alex and Milena comes back in fragments. Alex is much older than Milena, and he meets her at a party, drawn to her young and free-spirited manner. Milena is a military brat who suffers from severe depression and is married to Stefan, an older man who lives across the border in Bratislava.
Cast
- Sevilla Delofskias Czech Receptionist
- Robert Walkeras Konrad
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Bad Timing (1980)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The film was 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.
- The film was shot under the title Illusions until author Richard Bach sued distributor Rank Film Distributors near the end of the shoot, alleging "unfair competition" with his recently released novel of the same name. Bach dropped the case once the title was changed to Bad Timing.
- Roeg later said the film "fucked up more people in my crew than anything else I've done", counting five people whose lives were turned over by it, among them the cameraman, producer and executive producer.
- Roeg originally wanted Bruno Ganz and Sissy Spacek in the leads before casting musician Art Garfunkel and Theresa Russell, whom he later married. Albert Finney rejected the role of the inspector, and with Malcolm McDowell unavailable, Harvey Keitel was cast three days before filming.
- In the United States the film was given an X rating, which its producers unsuccessfully appealed, so they decided to release it there without a rating at all.
