Petulia

Archie Bollen, a San Francisco doctor, has recently divorced and is starting over. At a social gathering he meets Petulia Danner, a spirited young married woman whose charm masks an unhappy home life with her husband, David, a man prone to violence. Archie is at first puzzled by her direct advances, but the two begin an affair, and their involvement brings complications for both of them as they weigh what they actually want from their lives.

Richard Lester directed the film, the third of the thirteen features he made, following Help! in 1965 and preceding The Three Musketeers in 1973. Lawrence B. Marcus wrote the screenplay, and Raymond Wagner produced it for Warner Bros-Seven Arts and Petersham Pictures. Julie Christie plays Petulia and George C. Scott plays Archie, with Richard Chamberlain as Dave Danner, Arthur Hill as Barney, Shirley Knight as Polo and Pippa Scott as May among a credited cast of twenty-two.

The film runs 105 minutes and was released in June 1968. Its worldwide box office came to about 2 million dollars. On IMDb it holds 6.8 out of 10 from roughly 3,700 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6 out of 10 from a much smaller handful of votes. A critics' rating of 8.2 out of 10 from thirteen reviews places it above those audience scores, suggesting a stronger response from reviewers than from general viewers.