Capital Celluloid - Day 75: Thursday Mar 17, 2011

Petulia (Lester, 1968): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6pm

This impressive piece of work is one of director Richard Lester's finest pieces of work. Described by critic Dave Kehr as "one of the finest films of and about the 60s," it features an outstanding performance by Julie Christie as a San Francisco socialite searching for some meaning in a vacuous world.

This screening is part of the Nicholas Roeg season and it's clear from the fractured narrative and striking visuals and use of colour that the cinematographer had a major input here. When I watched it recently I was struck by the echoes of both Don't Look Now and Bad Timing from the Roeg oeuvre and this is a movie well worth investigating for anyone interested in his and/or Lester's work.

There is also the bonus of a John Barry soundtrack.

Here is the trailer.

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