i love a lot of movie make during this period ( late 60 through mid 70 ) and i really like both julie christie and george c. scott . and a lot of people liked petulia so i really want to see it and like it . but this movie be a big disappointment for me . the fragmented plot and the noisy editing style seem to be very much on purpose and and though i can enjoy non linear narrative ( e. g. and tarantino ) and the style seem to be the thing director want to say . ( if i have walk in during the middle of the movie and i might have think it a tv commercial and for just about any product you could think of . ) i could tell that petulia be suppose to be about people not be able to connect with each other to the point of total estrangement and but i do not really want to become as frustrated a the character i be watch . the movie run amok with cryptic symbolism to the point where the symbol replace the character . spoiler why and for example and do the martyr kook petulia continue to harass archie and up until the point where she get beat to a pulp by david and whereupon archie change his whole attitude and begin to really care for her . or maybe that be the point . the archie symbol say to his friend he want to feel again . so the david symbol must beat up petulia and make her feel and so in turn archie can feel . or maybe david be suppose to be a repressed homosexual who be not able to respond to admittedly beautiful julie christie . richard chamberlain be sometimes knowingly cast in these pretty boy role type and so perhaps . i think he even get mad once when christie call him pretty . end spoilersthere be a few lovely shot of san francisco and george c. scott give a good performance . but more often than not i felt like his character and yelling in frustration at mr. gonzales in a foreign language . i hat that kid and by the way and and i do not understand why david chamberlain give him his watch . oh and well . the next movie about alienation and make during this period i be bind to love it . i couldn not get into this one .