George C. Scott and Julie Christie star in this mega-unusual film. For much of the picture, she relentlessly stalks a doctor (Scott) and much of it makes no sense until about midway through the story.I'll cut right to the chase on this one. You won't know it until later in the film, but this bizarre, artsy-fartsy mess of a film is about spousal abuse. Sadly, it's a super-important topic for a movie but it gets lost among all the pretense--all the artsiness, all the psychedelics and all the non-linear film footage that looks almost like it was edited randomly. Had the film simply told the story, it would have been so much better and so important. After all, back in 1968, folks didn't really talk about domestic violence and this movie COULD have opened up a dialog on the subject. Instead, it looks like director Richard Lester dropped some acid and kept doing so throughout the entire movie. All in all, a horribly frustrating film that I just can't recommend.

Petulia is one of those films that some critics find creative because it takes the story plot line and presents it in a non linear manner. We're all supposed to think that's creative when in fact all it is is confusing. This is what passes for art.That being said had the film been presented in a straightforward manner I might have found more to like in it. When it all gets straightened out the story involves uptight middle-class doctor George C. Scott who is in the process of getting a divorce from Shirley Knight. At a swinging party in San Francisco where the story takes place, Scott is propositioned by Julie Christie on about thirty seconds worth of acquaintance.Scott puts her off, the fact that she's already married to the wealthy Richard Chamberlain is certainly enough reason. But Julie is a persistent one, she shows up the next night at Scott's apartment with a tuba she ripped off from a pawnshop. Sounds bizarre, but what we're able to perceive is that this is really a desperate cry for help on many levels. Scott only gradually comes around to seeing it, we do also mainly because the way the story is told.Christie and Scott are both good in the leads, there is a performance by Joseph Cotten as Chamberlain's father who exudes a sinister presence in the few scenes he's in. As Joseph Cotten is one of my favorite players it's only natural I would commend him for his work here.A straightforward telling of the tale might have served Petulia better, but someone like director Richard Lester among others was just trying to be arty.

Like many movies, "Petulia" tells the story of a young woman (Julie Christie) unsatisfied with her marriage getting involved with another man (George C. Scott). The major difference is that this movie is set amid the counterculture of San Francisco in the late '60s - so why's she getting involved with an older man, I wonder. It seems like the movie's main point is to try and capitalize on what happened in the '60s. I mean, it's not like Julie Christie, George C. Scott and Richard Chamberlain were born to play these roles - although I can't imagine who else would play them.Anyway, it's maybe worth seeing once. "Lost in Translation" managed to elaborate on the idea. Also starring Shirley Knight and Janis Joplin (happy birthday, Janis!).

Archie Bollen(George C Scott, very good)is a square peg in a very circular world. He seems to be a Waldo amongst flower children. There's a scene I find humorous(..while others might find strange and/or pathetic)that shows Archie in the middle of a crowd of hipsters dancing in a psychedelic hall as some band was playing with weird-colored strobe lights flashing throughout. What makes this film so great is that he has no business having any connection whatsoever with "young-married" Petulia(Julie Christie). She has this feeling for him that spurns from an operation she watched him perform on a young Latino child named Oliver. Oliver, as the film would confirm later, is caught under a speeding car and it has everything to do with Petulia and her volatile, unpredictable, "quick-to-rush-into anger" husband David(Richard Chamberlain;he's unfortunately the unsung actor here because all the roles are so great that Chamberlain can be forgotten until his character changes Petulia's life through a horrible beating).Archie's previous married life to "Polo"(Shirley Knight who is outstanding as the conflicted wife;clearly, her work on here outshines everyone..even Christie in my opinion)wasn't a bad one, but something was missing. He felt suffocated, not to mention, there was no joy. When he can not get rid of Petulia, he succumbs to her charms and beauty. This film shows their unusual relationship, specifically how their differences bring them peculiarly closer because of this transfixing, overwhelming attraction that morphs into love.I have to say that Richard lester's direction just floored me. The way he edits the lifestyle of that period in San Francisco life and how he captures the people in that era..it's just Wow. I wish films like this were made today. It just vibrated off-screen to me and I was completely hooked to it's charms and visual fervor. The performances are already superb to begin with, but how Lester brings the past within the frame-work of the present..it's so fresh and innovative. This movie just wreaks of craftsmanship. A masterpiece.