RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Petulia
Petulia

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Petulia (1968)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
90 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:10

Fresh:9

Rotten:1

Average Rating:7.8/10

Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: A film very much of its time -- the swinging '60s -- "Petulia" is also a timeless study of romantic relationships in a consumer society. It is filmed in a fragmented, jumpy style, that is... A film very much of its time -- the swinging '60s -- "Petulia" is also a timeless study of romantic relationships in a consumer society. It is filmed in a fragmented, jumpy style, that is nonetheless powerful and effective. A prominent San Francisco surgeon's life is turned upside down when he falls in love with an eccentric young woman caught in an unhappy marriage with a sadistic man. Can this odd couple's love transcend the conventions of their upper-class world? [More]

Starring: Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain, Arthur Hill

Starring: Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain, Arthur Hill, Shirley Knight, Joseph Cotten, Pippa Scott, Kathleen Widdoes

Director: Richard Lester

Director: Richard Lester
Producer: Raymond Wagner
Screenwriter: Larry Marcus, Barbara Turner
Composer: John Barry

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Jun 20, 2006

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Petulia
  • "It's a very real film about two people trying to get through to each other," director Richard Lester (A Hard Day's Night) says of his landmark romance Petulia, set in summer-of-love-era San Francisco.
  • There Julie Christie plays a unhappily married socialite trying to get through to a recently divorced doctor (George C. Scott), who in his own words just wants to "feel something." He'll soon feel, even hurt, a lot. Because we know why kooky Petulia so desperately reaches out. As Lester zigzags through the flashbacks and flash-forwards of cinematographer Nicolas Roeg's startling images and Lawrence B. Marcus' knowing screenplay, Petulia's jigsaw pieces form a celluloid time capsule of life and love in the turbulent '60s.
  • Source: Warner Home Video
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for Petulia

    • T-Meter Critics
    • Top Critics
    • RT Community
    • My Critics
    • My Friends
    • DVD
     
     
    1 - 14 (sorted by source)
    Text View
    Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
     
     
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
    05/24/03
    Channel 4 Film
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Dave Kehr
    Dave Kehr
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
    10/23/04
    Roger Ebert
    Roger Ebert
    Chicago Sun-Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Petulia lives on with its vague curiosity and a genuine emotional sting.

    Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
    08/18/06
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Combustible Celluloid

    Innovative in narrative and style, Lester's dissection of mores and manners through marriages and affairs captures vividly the zeitgeist of the Summer of Love and the violent Vietnam War with brilliant turns from Julie Christie and George C. Scott.

    Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
    07/14/08
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    ...an anti-The Graduate ... an essential film from and about America in the dying days of the '60s, yet the modernism of its style and ambitions makes Petulia impressively ahead of that time.

    Full Review Source: Film.com | comment Comment
    01/25/08
    Mark Bourne
    Mark Bourne
    Film.com
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    08/26/04
    Andy Klein
    Andy Klein
    Los Angeles CityBeat

    Curious one-shot US film in the midst of Lester's British period

    comment Comment
    11/05/02
    Ken Hanke
    Ken Hanke
    Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    07/26/03
    Nell Minow
    Nell Minow
    Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    05/20/03
    Renata Adler
    Renata Adler
    New York Times

    I thought this film was more claptrap than anything else.

    Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    01/01/00
    Dennis Schwartz
    Dennis Schwartz
    Ozus' World Movie Reviews
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    06/24/06
    Derek Adams
    Derek Adams
    Time Out

    Julie Christie in her Oscar role + Richard Lester direction. Enough said.

    comment Comment
    03/08/08
    Steve Crum
    Steve Crum
    Video-Reviewmaster.com

    No review available.

    comment Comment
    11/07/02
    Michael Szymanski
    Michael Szymanski
    Zap2it.com
     
     
    1 - 14 (sorted by source)
    Text View
    See All

    More DVDs

    Close
    Top Rentals
    Tomatometer Percentage Movie
    36% 36% Angels & Demons
    25% 25% Four Christmases
    68% 68% Funny People
    95% 95% Star Trek
    14% 14% The Ugly Truth

    More Rentals…

    New On DVD This Week
    Tomatometer Percentage Movie
    32% 32% Terminator Salvation
    44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
    86% 86% A Christmas Tale
    60% 60% Paper Heart

    More New Releases…

    RT On Current TV

    DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196

    What’s Hot On RT

    Disney Countdown

    Disney Countdown

    Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

    RT's Gift Guide

    RT's Gift Guide

    Give the best movies, gear, and more!

    Jason Reitman

    Jason Reitman

    The Up in the Air director's Five Faves

    The Blind Side

    The Blind Side

    Did you see it? Rate and review it here!

    Other News

    Close
    • Top Stories
    • Popular
    • Interviews
     
     

    Comments

     
     
    Top Stories
    Headlines Comments
      
    • Peter Jackson Talks Hobbit, LotR Blu-ray Source: Collider.com
    3
    • Woman Jailed for Filming New Moon Screening Source: Chicago Sun-Times
    2
    • McG Has Plans for Fifth and Sixth Terminator Movies Source: Gizmodo
    3
    • Spielberg Hops Away from Harvey Source: Variety
    22
    • Tarantino Could Have Directed Green Lantern Source: MTV
    24
    • Will Duvall be Gilliam's Don Quixote? Source: Collider.com
    26
    • No Hobbit Until 2012? Source: The Wrap
    22
    • Don't Hold Your Breath for Hancock 2 Source: HitFix
    42
    • Peter Berg Talks Battleship Source: CHUD
    2
    • Summit Ponders Twilight Finale Source: Variety
    162
    Popular
    Headlines Comments
      
    • Total Recall: Natalie Portman's Best Movies
    79
    • Five Favorite Films with Jason Reitman
    55
    • Critics Consensus: Everybody's Fine Is Just OK
    50
    • 10 Horrifically Profitable Films
    46
    • Sundance 2010: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
    41
    • Five Favorite Films with Jesse Ventura
    40
    • Weekly Ketchup: Tron Team to Remake The Black Hole
    36
    • Awards Tour: National Board of Review Winners List!
    28
    • Friday Harvest: Iron Man 2, Harry Potter, and more!
    24
    • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Terminator Salvation and a Smithsonian Battle
    22
    Interviews
    Headlines Comments
      
    • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
    2
    • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
    17
    • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
    12
    • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
    23
    • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
    8
    • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
    15
    • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
    22
    • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
    9
    • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
    28
    • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
    30
     
     

    Sponsored Links

    Around The Network

    • Petulia at Rotten Tomatoes

    Fresh Links

    Featured
    History of Disney Animation
    History of Disney Animation External Link

    MSN Movies offers a little background on the success of Disney Animation.

    90 Years of Screen Vampires
    90 Years of Screen Vampires External Link

    TIME takes a look back at the history of vampires on film.

    Virtuoso Vistas of Lovely Bones
    Virtuoso Vistas of Lovely Bones External Link

    Techland examines the visual splendor of Peter Jackson's upcoming film.

    Recent Headlines as TV Movies
    Recent Headlines as TV Movies External Link

    AOL put together a list of 10 recent news items that would be perfect as TV Movies.

    The Death of Original Thought
    The Death of Original Thought External Link

    Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill explores how remakes and reboots have warped our thinking.

    Promos
    Follow RT on Twitter
    Follow RT on Twitter External Link

    Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

     
     
    About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
    IGN Logo

    IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
    TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
    AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


    By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
    Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
    IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
    Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.