Zee and Co. (1971)

All the time I was watching this, I couldn't help wonder if Elizabeth Taylor had real booze in her glass! She's the "Zee" from the title, married to architect "Robert" (Michael Caine) and living a life that's pretty unfulfilled. Initially they seem to be getting along nicely, but we quite quickly discover that is just a façade and that a tantrum is never far away - from either of them! Their tender equilibrium is shattered when he meets "Stella" (Susannah York). She might just offer him a more stable, loving and permanent route out of the marital maelstrom he lives in. "Zee" is having one of that. Can't live with him, sure, but won't live without him either. Definitely won't share. She sets about using every bit of guile in her arsenal to win him back and/or put her off. Meantime, the widowed "Stella" proves that she's not without her own baggage and that's not something she can rely on her new arch-enemy to be discreet about is she's not careful. I thought Taylor was on good form here, a very natural looking woman suffering from a combination of ennui, excessive wealth and an husband just as stultified as she has become. Her search for constant stimulation is well captured here as are her strops and her seductive flirtations. It's the other two who don't really turn up. Caine isn't at all natural, even when at his most playful and there's not a jot of chemistry between him and the ever-bland York. John Standing hams it up a bit now and then and Margaret Leighton does her best impersonation of Maria Antoinette as the supporting cast and many of the scenarios emphasise the luxurious pointlessness of her life. The writing can be vitriolic and sharp at times too ("Gone With the Wind" and "Cleopatra" both make their presence felt a little) and at it's best it's a lively and fiery effort from a star that I'd like to have seen do this on stage. Art imitating life intimidating art? I liked it.