Themes: Midlife Crises, Infidelity, Age Disparity Romance
Main Cast: Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain, Arthur Hill, Shirley Knight
Release Year: 1968
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Petulia is Richard Lester's ode to the Swinging Sixties: a time of psychedelic instability when neither those who were square, nor those who were hip, really had it right. George C. Scott is Archie Bollen, a divorced San Francisco doctor in the midst of "discovering himself." Julie Christie is Petulia Danner, a peculiar young beauty recently married into an established family. Archie's sterile apartment and detached, bemused manner exemplify his inability to emote. Petulia's forward nature and desperate tenderness betray her fear of her sullen, abusive, pretty-boy husband (Richard Chamberlain). The physician and the newlywed embark on a schizophrenic love affair amid Pepsi references, automated motels, roller derbies, and a cameo by Big Brother and the Holding Company -- but they never achieve the daring to truly change their lives. ~ Aubry Anne D'Arminio, All Movie Guide
Review
The first of director Richard Lester's rare diversions from comedy, Petulia, which followed Lester's Beatles films and the acidic satire of How I Won the War, nonetheless finds him expanding on the themes of his earlier work. Adapting John Haase's novel Me and the Arch Kook Petulia, the story of a brief, interrupted love affair between a middle-aged doctor (George C. Scott) and a young, with-it bride (Julie Christie) allows Lester to renew his study of the clash between generations, and between culture and counterculture. But Lester never allows this subtext to overwhelm the story itself, keeping a disciplined watch on the film's most striking feature, its radically novel approach to editing. With little warning, the film flashes periodically to seemingly unrelated scenes, whether real or imagined, past or present becoming clear only as the film progresses. Always pioneering in his cutting, Lester here helps push the limits of what cinematic storytelling could do. (Lester disciple Stephen Soderbergh's work owes a special debt to Petulia). As exciting as this is, it's the director's overall handling of the story, abetted by peerless work from his two leads and cinematographer Nicholas Roeg, that make his material as emotionally engaging as it is formally challenging and culturally resonant. Though rarely heralded as such, Petulia is a major accomplishment, a moving human story that's also one of the great films from and about the 1960s. ~ Keith Phipps, All Movie Guide
Dean Tavoularis - Art Director, Denis O'Dell - Associate Producer, Tony Walton - Costume Designer, Arlette Nastat - Costume Designer, Richard Lester - Director, Antony Gibbs - Editor, John Barry - Composer (Music Score), John Barry - Musical Direction/Supervision, Gus Norin - Makeup, Tony Walton - Production Designer, Nicolas Roeg - Cinematographer, Don Devlin - Producer, Raymond Wagner - Producer, Audrey Blasdel-Goddard - Set Designer, Barbara Turner - Screenwriter, Lawrence B. Marcus - Screenwriter, John Haase - Book Author
The title character is a young San Franciscosocialite married to a savagely abusive man. She finagles a meeting with physician Archie Bollen who she first saw and became smitten with as he treated an injured Mexican boy. Bollen is in the process of divorcing his wife, is sifting through new relationships with his ex, the new man in her life, his sons, and friends who knew him only as one-half of a couple. The two soon embark on a quirky relationship.
A non-linear construction with frequent flash-backs and flash-forwards (especially at the beginning of the film) make a second viewing helpful.
Filmed on location throughout San Francisco, Petulia included scenes at the apartment building located at 307 Filbert Street, the Cala Foods on Hyde, and in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel.
Until recently, it has been very hard indeed to actually see this particular film. There were VHS versions available for a while in some territories, but until 2006 it remained in the Warner vaults. However, a US DVD was then released in 2006, and now, following a deal Warner UK have struck with former special interest label Digital Classics to release four catalogue titles from those capacious vaults, Petulia is one of the batch selected. A DVD will be available from 27th April 2009 on the Digital Classics label[2]. A trailer for the film can be found on YouTube at Digital Classics' own YouTube page[3].
