Newlywed San Francisco socialite Petulia Danner (Julie Christie) is bored with her husband naval engineer David (Richard Chamberlain). She aggressively flirts with Dr. Archie Bollen (George C. Scott) at a hospital fundraiser. He is about to finalize his divorce from Polo (Shirley Knight). She's fixated on him after bringing in the Mexican boy Oliver into the hospital. She continues to stalk him despite the fact that he's dating May (Pippa Scott). It's a mystery as David's dark side and his abusive father (Joseph Cotten) are revealed.
The movie is disjointed with flashbacks and forwards. The quick flashes are too experimental and are better off extracted from the movie. There is something interesting with the disjointed structure being attempted here. It doesn't really work at the beginning, but it becomes more fascinating as more is revealed. It makes me ache to put the pieces together. Yet it struggles at times. I think Oliver's story is interesting which makes it a grind to follow Archie in the present.
The movie is disjointed with flashbacks and forwards. The quick flashes are too experimental and are better off extracted from the movie. There is something interesting with the disjointed structure being attempted here. It doesn't really work at the beginning, but it becomes more fascinating as more is revealed. It makes me ache to put the pieces together. Yet it struggles at times. I think Oliver's story is interesting which makes it a grind to follow Archie in the present.