Bad Timing

Doctors and nurses race to stabilize Milena in the Vienna emergency room while she fights for her life. Netusil, the investigator, begins quietly assembling clues as the present-day frame unfolds. The scene sets up the mystery while flashbacks will reveal the backstory of the romance.

Netusil starts interviewing Milena's circle and pieces together the sequence of events surrounding the overdose. He scrutinizes Alex's story and the gaps in his account. The investigation aims to uncover what really happened that night.

Alex, an American psychoanalyst, meets Milena at a party and is immediately drawn to her sophistication and free spirit. They dive into a passionate, impulsive affair that ignites quickly. The relationship is volatile from the start, foreshadowing later tensions.

Milena reveals she is suffering from severe depression and is married to an older man, Stefan, whom she visits across the Bratislava border. The revelation complicates Alex's feelings and deepens insecurity in their romance. The dynamic becomes increasingly fraught with competing loyalties.

Alex grows embittered by Milena's promiscuity and heavy drinking, and begins to stalk her. He confronts her about the marriage and accuses her of complicity in keeping him at bay. The mounting jealousy intensifies the power imbalance between them.

On a trip to Morocco, their relationship strains under pressure. When their car breaks down, they accept a ride from two Moroccan men; Alex ends up in the truck bed while Milena flirts with the men. The episode underscores Milena's risk-taking and Alex's growing insecurity.

Back in Morocco, Alex proposes returning to the United States so he can take a teaching job in New York, but Milena insists they should live 'in the moment.' The disagreement highlights a fundamental clash over their future together. The tension between flight and commitment deepens the rift.

Milena begins to doubt whether Alex sees her as a real person or just a case study. She confronts him about a photograph of her at a lake with another man, insisting it shows her with her late brother in California. Alex's suspicion and her defensiveness fuel a growing mistrust.

Outside her apartment, a drunken Alex tells Milena he cannot bear the thought of her with another man. When she renounces him, he slaps her. She invites him back inside only to taunt him in kabuki makeup, signaling a reversal of power and escalating animosity.

Milena hurls objects from her balcony as Alex storms out, and later leaves a drunken voicemail suggesting she wants to die. The emotional peak foreshadows the tragedy to come and leaves their relationship in a fragile, unresolved state.

In the present, Netusil pieces together the chain of events and questions Alex in an interview. He uncovers inconsistencies and concludes that Alex raped Milena after she overdosed, though he cannot secure a confession. The evidence points to a brutal act that remains contested by the authorities.

Stefan arrives and reveals that Milena survived the overdose thanks to a life-saving tracheotomy. Alex departs without accountability, while Stefan implies that a man must love Milena more than his own dignity. The encounter underscores the legal and moral ambiguities surrounding the case.

Some time later, in New York, Alex spots Milena near the Waldorf-Astoria and calls out to her. She turns briefly to reveal a tracheotomy scar, then walks away impassively, signaling an unresolved distance between them and a life shaped by trauma.