X Y & Zee. 1972. UK. Directed by Brian G. Hutton. Screenplay by Edna O’Brien. With Michael Caine, Elizabeth Taylor, Susannah York. 35mm. 110 min.
The Irish novelist Edna O’Brien concocted this “entertaining plush circus of a ‘woman’s picture’” (Pauline Kael) on the assumption that Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf needed even more piss and vinegar, but she disowned the film when much of her sardonic dialogue, and cheeky climax, were bastardized. Nonetheless, it’s delicious to watch the boozy, blowsy Elizabeth Taylor play the scorned wife Zee Blakeley, who’s damned if she’ll allow her philandering architect husband (Michael Caine) and his mousy mistress (Suzanna York) to carry on without her. A delighted Caine found that “Elizabeth turned out to be absolutely charming, no trouble at all and very professional—the only actor I ever worked with who never ever fluffed a line.”