Bad Timing

Bad Timing

Year: 1980

Runtime: 123 mins

Language: English

Director: Nicolas Roeg

ThrillerMysteryDramaIntense violence and sexual transgressionErotic relationships and desire

Alex Linden, a Vienna psychiatrist, meets Milena Flaherty through a mutual friend. Although he is older, he is drawn to her youthful, carefree spirit. Their friendship quickly deepens into a passionate, obsessive affair despite Milena’s marriage. The relationship spirals into terror, culminating in Milena’s overdose and hospitalization, after which Alex is arrested by Inspector Netusil.

Warning: spoilers below!

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Timeline & Setting – Bad Timing (1980)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Bad Timing (1980). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

Cold War era

Set in a late-20th-century Cold War context, the narrative juxtaposes Western cosmopolitanism with Eastern bloc tension. Vienna's atmosphere frames suspicion, desire, and moral ambiguity, while cross-border encounters heighten stakes. The international itinerary—from Europe to Africa and the United States—reflects both freedom and constraint shaping the characters' choices.

Location

Vienna, Bratislava, Ouarzazate, New York, California

The film unfolds across a series of settings, anchored by Cold War Vienna as a tense, cosmopolitan backdrop. It traverses the border to Bratislava, hinting at Eastern Bloc control and fragile personal freedoms. The story also spans Morocco's city of Ouarzazate and later New York, culminating in a late sequence near the Waldorf-Astoria. This globe-trotting backdrop intensifies the romance's exhilaration and danger.

🏙️ Vienna 🛂 Bratislava 🎬 Ouarzazate 🗽 New York 🌴 California

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 12:55

Main Characters – Bad Timing (1980)

Meet the key characters of Bad Timing (1980), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Milena Flaherty (Theresa Russell)

A young American woman in her 20s who is sophisticated and free-spirited yet plagued by depression. Her whirlwind romance with Alex is alluring at first but soon becomes volatile, revealing how vulnerability and impulse can collide with desire and danger.

❤️ Romance 🧠 Psychology 😢 Depression

Alex Linden (Art Garfunkel)

An American psychoanalyst whose charm masks insecurity and a need to control. He initially falls for Milena's spontaneity, but his jealousy drives surveillance, manipulation, and eventually coercion, revealing a darker, self-serving motive behind the relationship.

💔 Obsession 🔒 Control 🌀 Jealousy

Inspector Netusil (Harvey Keitel)

A Viennese investigator who methodically reconstructs the sequence of events. He pieces together conflicting testimonies, uncovers timeline inconsistencies, and pursues the truth even as it remains elusive and morally complex.

🕵️ Investigation ⏳ Timeline

Stefan Vognic (Denholm Elliott)

Milena's much older husband, who visits across the border and remains emotionally distant. His remark about loving Milena more than his own dignity underscores the precarious balance of affection, status, and power within their arrangement.

💔 Marriage 🗝️ Secrets

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 12:55

Major Themes – Bad Timing (1980)

Explore the central themes of Bad Timing (1980), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

❤️ Love and Obsession

The romance between Milena and Alex is initially intoxicating but quickly becomes possessive and destabilizing. Jealousy, surveillance, and manipulation drive their relationship toward dangerous extremes. The film uses this dynamic to explore how desire can blur the line between love and control.

⚠️ Consent and Violence

A pivotal rape exposes how consent can be breached and how responsibility is clouded by memory and narrative manipulation. Netusil's investigation struggles to pin accountability when accounts conflict. The film confronts viewers with uncomfortable questions about power, guilt, and the consequences of violence.

🪞 Memory and Truth

Fragmented flashbacks create an unreliable narrative, forcing the audience to question what really happened. Netusil pieces together the chain of events from inconsistent testimony, revealing how memory can distort reality. The film probes the fragility of truth when memories clash.

🗺️ Cold War Backdrop

Vienna's cosmopolitan surface sits beside the era's political tensions, shaping the characters' choices. The cross-border elements to Bratislava and the Morocco–New York segments emphasize freedom versus constraint. The setting across Europe, Africa, and the United States underscores how time and place influence desire and power.

Last Updated: October 04, 2025 at 12:55

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Bad Timing Summary

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Bad Timing Summary

Bad Timing Timeline

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Bad Timing Timeline

More About Bad Timing

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Bad Timing (1980) Plot Summary & Movie Recap

Bad Timing (1980) Scene-by-Scene Movie Timeline

Bad Timing (1980) Spoiler-Free Summary & Key Flow