A Matter of Time

It is not hard to understand why this movie has never been released on anything but 16mm, which is how I came to see it. This movie is a bit too eccentric to actually accomplish it's purpose. The acting is much too stylized and emphatic with the plot rather weak. The interest in this film lies in the fact that has many firsts and lasts. It is Charles Boyer's last film, and Isabella Rossellini's first. It is also the last film that Vincent Minnelli directed, and close to the end of Ingrid Bergman's career. Other than that there is little to recommend it, but it does have some interesting footage of Rome. It is about a chamber maid who gains employment in Rome taking care of a declining socialite who once strutted across the world stage but who is now on the rocks. She is unable to accept being a has-been and continues to live in her mind as though she is still the consort of emperors. Her new chamber maid Liza Minnelli tries to support her as well as she can, although it is a hopeless task.

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.

So much talent behind and in front of the camera to lay such a big egg. The whole thing reeks of decay and that seeps into the tenor of the film. There's no strong narrative flow to the film just a collection of scenes that lead nowhere. Liza is all over the place and only registers in a positive way twice, in the final hospital scene and most of all during the musical performance of the song Do It Again-really her only powerful moment. Of interest more for its cast of second generation performers than any merit or entertainment value of the actual film. Beside Liza there's a brief appearance of Isabella Rossellini in her screen bow and as Liza's cousin Tina Aumont, who was the daughter of B movie star Maria Montez and Jean-Pierre Aumont. Nonsensical mess was the unfortunate swan song of both Vincente Minnelli and Charles Boyer. Such a missed opportunity.

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.

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.