Bold and innovative in its use of flashbacks, ellipses, and, most uniquely, flash-forwards - probably the first use of that technique in mainstream narrative film - Petulia (1968) tells the powerful story of two disintegrating marriages and the flowering of a love affair set against the backdrop of the Viet Nam war (waged on television screens), a potent counterpoint to the emotional chaos and violence in the characters' lives. This Richard Lester masterwork is an amazing and continuously fascinating fracturing of narrative structure that simultaneously succeeds in maintaining a clear and forward momentum to culminate in an emotionally and intellectually satisfying catharsis. A film way ahead of its time with exceptional performances by all the cast, especially Shirley Knight in a heartbreaking turn as George C. Scott's devastated wife and Richard Chamberlain in the unlikely role of Julie Christie's abusive husband. A vastly underrated, overlooked film, in my opinion.
