BAD TIMING

 It's Nicolas Roeg so you know it won't be straightforward and it isn't. It opens with Klimt on the credits and Tom Waits at his smokiest and then we're at the beginning of the story or maybe we're at the end. Time doesn't really stand still in the first five minutes . All we really know is that a comatose Theresa Russell is being rushed to the emergency ward accompanied by a not-too-worried looking Art Garfunkel while the film jumps back to when they met withour really explaining who they are.

"Bad Timing" isn't a pleasant film and I didn't like it first time round but with Roeg it's easy to recognize the brilliance, the construction and even people who don't like Roeg often admire his work and there are a few of his admirers who consider "Bad Timing" his masterpiece. Yes, it's a director's picture but it's also an actor's picture though you may feel Garfunkel hopelessly miscast as a brilliant psychoanalyst; after all, wasn't he the 'lesser' half of Simon and Garfunkel.

Actually I've always thought Garfukel a very fine actor and he's very fine here; blank, chilly and not at all likeable, a man living entirely within himself. Russell's teriffic, of course. Like Monroe she was never a great actress but like Monroe she could be great, fully embodying the character she was playing and pouring more of herself into the part than may have been necessary. The supporting cast includes Harvey Keital and Denholm Elliott and they are excellent even if Keitel is a very American Austrian policeman. The brilliant cinematography is once again by Anthony Richmond and Yale Udoff wrote the elliptical screenplay. I still didn't like the film but I can see the brilliance.