A Matter of Time

I saw this when it first came out and haven't seen it since. I do remember that some of it was typically Minnelli-beautifully composed and gorgeous, other parts were obviously stock footage and not very attractive at all. The whole film had a disjointed air to it which wasn't surprising since it was well known before the movie was released that "the powers that be" took the film out of Minnelli's hands in post-production. What a shame-even if the film wasn't first rate I certainly would've preferred to see Minnelli's version. I vividly remember the "Do it Again" number. I thought it was beautifully done and the equal of Minnelli's work in his heyday. I've never seen it included in any of the documentaries on Minnelli's work and it should be. Just because the movie as a whole isn't perfect it doesn't mean that some parts aren't worthwhile.

Film star Nina (Liza Minnelli) remembers her early days as a maid in an Italian hotel. There are many eccentric guests including Contessa Sanziani (Ingrid Bergman) who is longtime estranged from her husband Count Sanziani (Charles Boyer).

This is the last film from director Vincente Minnelli, Liza's father. This is rather flat. Maybe it could have been turned into a full fletch musical. Liza keeps singing but as a musical, it keeps holding back. Maybe it could strip away all the jumping around to get to a simple female friendship story. There is a dullness to the rundown hotel set. The various eccentric guests have an uncontrolled randomness to it all. The 'rape' scene shocked me at first. It's a bit of a mess. There is a good film here somewhere.

If you're not a Liza Minnelli fan, don't even bother because despite the other talent involved, this is her show (and not a very good one -- father Vincente Minnelli, the director, very wisely disowned the edited picture). This isn't one to watch for Minnelli's acting (like "The Sterile Cuckoo" or "Cabaret") or even her charm ("Arthur," "Stepping Out"), but her voice is incredible. While the songs (except for Gershwin's "Do It Again") are middling, Minnelli's delivery makes you forget how silly the story and her character are. Mother Judy had better songs to sing, but Liza's instrument was phenomenal at its peak.

On the plus side is Ingrid Bergman as the aging contessa. She's so at ease and has so much fun as the grande dame that it's impossible not to love her -- again. Reunited briefly with Charles Boyer more than 30 years after their first pairing (in "Gaslight"), she has on-screen history working for her in her playful scene with him. (Watch the melodramatic "Arch of Triumph" if you really want to see Bergman and Boyer connect.)

Another reason to watch is for the film debut of Bergman's daughter, Isabella Rossellini. She's barely in "A Matter of Time" -- and you can barely tell it's her under her nun's habit -- but seeing her luminous face next to her mother's has the feeling of the passing of a torch, or at the very least a blessing. To give you an idea of the kind of cornball humor at work here, Rossellini's character is called Sister Pia; the actress's real-life sister, of course, is Bergman's daughter Pia Lindstrom.

A big disappointment, but with the talent involved, this movie couldn't not be worth a look - Bergman, the Minnellis, Boyer's brief cameo, a John Gay screenplay (which evidently went awry and became something of a muddled mess) and Geoffrey Unsworth (though time hasn't been kind to his cinematography, which looks murky now). Something was definitely missing here, and I had trouble keeping track of who was who among several of the characters. Bergman was an interesting combination of Auntie Mame and The Madwoman of Chaillot. Liza's in great voice here: the two Kander and Ebb songs aren't bad at all, and "Do It Again" was superb (we know who she must have been thinking of), but where do the songs fit into this muddle? Was it intended as a semi-musical? And why does Liza Minnelli (as Nina) suddenly take Bergman's place as the Countess in the 'flashbacks' - are these supposed to be scenes from Nina's film, or merely in Nina's head? Also, the movie is supposedly set in 1949 but has no period feel or look at all - it looks like 1976. The soundtrack - music and dialog both - sounds like it was almost entirely post-synched, and is reminiscent of one of those bad Italian sword-and-sandal or horror movies of the 1960s or, what's worse, like one of those imported "art films" (the X-rated variety).

How could the final film to be directed by Vincente Minnelli, for which he got to direct his daughter, Liza, and 1 starring Ingrid Bergman, for which her daughter, Isabella Rossellini, got to play her nurse, turn out to basically suck lemons?!? Just try and watch it all the way to the end (Liza's second singing bit comes near the end, and those two musical moments are the only bright spots in this dreadful film, although the movie itself is not a musical). I gave this 3-4 star (out of 10) movie an extra star because I love Ingrid without reservation, and Isabella would turn out to be darned good, too, but it's just a gift. Mr. Minnelli apparently spent his time encouraging Liza to over-emote (and hence overact), while ignoring his stars (even, in a bit part, Charles Boyer's last movie appearance), their roles and motivations. Watch "Cabaret" instead.