A Matter of Time

Dir. Vincente Minnelli. 1976, 97 mins. U.S./Italy. 16mm. With Ingrid Bergman, Liza Minnelli, Charles Boyer, Gabriele Ferzetti, Isabella Rosellini. Rarely screened, Vincente Minnelli’s remarkable final film, adapted from a novel by Maurice Druon, functions as the director’s complicated love letter to Hollywood’s Golden Age, made during the mid-seventies, when the industry had changed forever and his daughter, Liza, had become one of the biggest stars in the world. Liza plays Nina, a hotel maid in a rundown Roman hotel who befriends an Italian countess (Ingrid Bergman) and former Belle Epoque courtesan, who regales her with stories from her past; Nina then imagines herself in a fantasy incorporating the countess’s romantic tales. Shot on location in Rome and Venice, A Matter of Time was the victim of tampering by producer and studio head Sam Z. Arkoff, who recut the film without Minnelli’s permission, providing a frustrating coda to one of the greatest careers in Hollywood. Nevertheless, the film’s astonishing cast (also including Bergman’s daughter Isabella Rossellini in her film debut as a nun), visual beauty, emotional sensitivity, and fascinating portrait of the treatment of women in the movie industry all shine through. Richard Brody called it “one of the great last films” and a “bittersweet masterwork.” Tickets: $17.50 / $12 senior and students / $10 youth / $7 MoMI members. There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership. Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission.