I may be about to annoy a lot of very nice and very clever people who have taken the time to comment on "Petulia" eruditely and sincerely. I have read them all and even the ones I disagree strongly with are well - argued and,in the spirit of fairness have marked them up positively for their style if not their content. Having said all that I feel I must record that I found it to be pretentious, derivative and self - indulgent......a typical Richard Lester film in fact. Stealing other film -makers' tricks and jumbling them together doesn't make him an "auteur" any more than a musician who steals other players' licks and jumbles them up becomes an innovator. By the time he did "The running,jumping and Standing Still" movie in 1960 just about the only person in the UK still doing "The Goons" was Prince Charles."It's Trad Dad" was straightforward exploitation,"The mouse on the moon" a tired follow - up to the vastly superior "The mouse that roared". Then we come to his two movies with the Beatles - and here I am well aware I am treading on sacred ground for millions of admirers of the lovable mop - tops,but basically they were a rag - bag of gimmicks based around pointing his camera at the boys while they did their schtick.He got lucky and rode on their coat tails ,as did many another lesser - talent. With "Petulia" his dependence upon the work of superior Contitnental European directors was nearly total.His work wasn't mere "Hommage",it was multi - sourced plagiarism (there's no such thing in Art of course, it's merely "In the school of"...). It is beautifully photographed by Nicholas Roeg,a man who,in turn, would pay "Hommage" to Mr Lester.And so it goes. If you think "Blow - Up" is Antonioni's great statement on the 1960s in so -called "Swinging London" and Mr Lester's "The Knack" a film that shaped a generation then I suspect "Petulia" will be fine for you. If,on the other hand you think Antonioni's movie was an overblown con trick and "The Knack" too clever by half,then you may prefer to watch the very beautiful Miss Christie and the admirable Mr Scott in some other movie.Perhaps one where the director isn't always shouting "watch me - I'm going to amaze you".