Petulia, a relatively overlooked New Hollywood gem, had its premiere on June 10, 1968. Shot on location in San Francisco, the film, diving into the sexual revolution, could be mistaken today for a period piece/counterculture curio. And certainly it is of that time and place: the production features performances by Bay Area locals Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia, ambitious, New-Wave inspired fragmenmted flashbacks and a hip visual style; the Vietnam War is on TV and the streets are littered with hippies. Director Richard Lester was associated with the revolutionary new—the Beatles’ celebrated first film, A Hard Day’s Night was on his resume (as well as Help, which followed); he also directed the zany youth romp The Knack . . . and How to Get It, which (inexplicably, to our eyes) took home the Palme d-Or at the 1965 Cannes Film Festival. And the star of Petulia, Julie Christie (here early in an exceptional run of ten films from 1965 to 1975 – including Darling (John Schlesinger), McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman) and Shampoo (Hal Ashby) – that would establish her as one of the most important actors of the era), was all of twenty-eight at the time, on the right side of the generational divide.
But all of that youth is a head fake. Like Paul Mazursky’s Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), Petulia is not about the celebration of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll (all abundantly present)—it is about how the changes wrought by the emerging sixties generation unsettle the expectations and well-established social norms of those who are ten or fifteen years ahead of them. Fittingly, then, despite its title and not-to-be-underestimated star, Petulia is George C. Scott’s film. Scott, whose signature intensity, charisma and range are all on effortless display here, plays Dr. Archie Bollen, a surgeon in early middle age who has decided that he wants something more than his impeccable marriage. (It should be noted that this decision long predated the arrival of Petulia on the scene. And Archie already has a mistress—he is not hot to trot, he is looking for his own pulse, and purpose.)
There is a lot going on in Petulia, including, among other things, a deftly carried critique of the sterile chills of postwar prosperity—but it is with the relationships between its two older couples where the movie really has something to say. Archie’s wife, Polo (Shirley Knight, who would next star in Francis Ford Coppola’s New Hollywood standout The Rain People, which Roger Ebert called “the mirror image to Easy Rider” and which we think is the better of those two films), is utterly blindsided. “It’s such a puzzle to me,” she declares; they were widely seen as the prefect couple, and they never fought. (They finally do have a fight, in an exceptionally astute and intimate scene, featuring a bag of cookies the fate of which will make you gasp.) Less puzzled but wholly mortified are the best friends, Archie’s partner Barney (Arthur Hill), and his wife Wilma (Kathleen Widdoes). Barney isn’t there to defend marriage – “you think you’re different from anybody else?” he asks, elaborating his own disenchantments – as he is to defend society. “My record isn’t exactly spotless—but there’s got to be another way.” In other words, a little discreet action on the side is understandable, but divorce, especially for no compelling reason, is simply not the way things are done. Pushing this card, he chastises Archie for “breaking Wilma’s heart.” And it certainly seems that way, as Wilma treats our wayward hero to a manipulative slide show of the good old days. But when Barney is out of the room she quietly confesses “I wish I had your guts.” Apparently marital disenchantment is an equal opportunity disposition.
Indeed, this movie is not what you’d call big on marriage—consider newlywed Petulia’s relationship with her icy sociopath of a husband, David (Richard Chamberlain), and the dispiriting choices she makes in that context. But there are no lectures on offer here: this is a New Hollywood film, which observes its characters, raises questions, and fills the screen with small moments that matter (Joseph Cotton is especially fine as Petulia’s father-in-law). Showcasing the impressive contributions of participants on both sides of the camera (such as the sharp-eyed cinematographer Nicholas Roeg, who would subsequently direct Christie in Don’t Look Now), this is Richard Lester’s finest film.
Archie on the Rocks (George C. Scott)
Julie Christie as Petulia
After the End – Polo (Shirley Knight) Announces her Engagement
Joseph Cotton Gives a Lecture on “the unwritten law”
“I wish I had your guts”