Bad Timing (Roeg, 1980)

Bad Timing (Nicolas Roeg, 1980)

Who do we want to watch on screen? It is nice to see reflections of ourselves in the characters, but we can't watch ourselves all the time (well, maybe I can). It is sometimes better to watch those that aren't us, so we can see the world from a different perspective but then, ahh, here lies the problem. If the people are not like us, we might start to dislike them, and again, disliking them can be fine, if it is a love-hate relationship we have with them, but actual dislike? Why would we want to watch them?

In "Bad Timing", we have the troubled relationship between two people. The young woman, Milena, is promiscuous and openly flirts with men, and when she starts a relationship with Alex, she does not pretend she is anything but that. This causes a difficulty in their relationship, Alex wants to change her, ground her, clip her wings, but Milena wants to remain free. Milena does not want to change for Alex and have Alex accept her as she is, and Alex wants her to change for him, and they expect to have a working relationship. It is tiresome to watch people like that, because I feel like I am watching children. Milena should understand that being in a relationship requires some sacrifice of self. If we are to remain exactly what we are, why start a relationship? We expect relationships to add something to us, and even addition means change. At the same time, Alex is also too blame, if someone is not willing to change, leave. People are like any other material. To mold something, the material has to be moldable.

The problem remains that both Alex and Milena are not people I like, and therefore, I do not care about their problems, nor do I want to spend any time with them. A look into their lives, for me, is a waste of time.

2/5