X, Y and Zee (1972)
This strange, love-triangle saga features three characters we simply cannot stand. So, the question of who ends up with who is really the last thing we care about while watching X, Y and Zee.
The film stars Elizabeth Taylor, who was in what we could charitably describe as her "lean, post-Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, years" where she starred in an unbroken stream of howlers beginning with Reflections in a Golden Eye, and going through Secret Ceremony, Boom!, Ash Wednesday, The Blue Bird, The Driver's Seat, and others until she practically stopped acting altogether.
In a hideous, teased hairdo, Taylor and hubby Michael Caine play minor-league Virginia Woolf marrieds that are going through the motions of a loveless relationship. While at a party, Caine meets an annoyingly simpering Susannah York, and soon, they begin an affair. Now, even though Taylor is very aware of the situation (apparently this is a common enough occurence) she spends the majority of the movie in loud shrieking matches with Caine while trying to position herself as York's friend. As written, York's character must be somewhat of a simpleton to want to get involved with such an obviously insufferable prick as Caine, but since we are told via party-hostess Margaret Leighton that "She's prone to weeping if anything nice happens to her," she probably is.
Within X, Y and Zee, we are given endless scenes of Caine and Taylor swilling down drinks and arguing about York. At one point, the battle gets so heated, Caine throws Taylor down on their bed, ties her up and then drags her into the living room so they can discuss things like dry-cleaning bills (Taylor loves it). Taylor, for her part, likes to ride to York's flat and knock over her trashcans, or calling her asking "Is my husband in your skinny, chicken-like arms?" Eventually, Taylor can't stand it anymore and cuts her wrists, but is saved at the last minute by Caine who then confesses to York that he wished he'd let her die. We hear ya.
X, Y and Zee is also one of those kinds of movies that are so hip and now that it has one of those meant-to-be-profound non-ending endings. York reveals to Taylor that she was kicked out of school for kissing the nuns, so Taylor makes a surprise visit to York's flat and, it's implied though not specifically stated, they wind up having sex together...or at least that's what we can deduce. Caine arrives to find York in bed, all sullen and weepy, while Taylor smirks in the other room, and then just as Caine is about to say something to Taylor, the movie ends and the credits roll.
I wish I could say that X, Y and Zee was one of those 'so bad it's good' movies that provides tons of unintentional hilarity, and although there are brief moments where it feels like it's getting ready to really take off in that direction, what's on the screen is mostly lethargic and far too repetitious. All in all, X, Y and Zee is for Elizabeth Taylor completionists, only.
The film stars Elizabeth Taylor, who was in what we could charitably describe as her "lean, post-Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, years" where she starred in an unbroken stream of howlers beginning with Reflections in a Golden Eye, and going through Secret Ceremony, Boom!, Ash Wednesday, The Blue Bird, The Driver's Seat, and others until she practically stopped acting altogether.
In a hideous, teased hairdo, Taylor and hubby Michael Caine play minor-league Virginia Woolf marrieds that are going through the motions of a loveless relationship. While at a party, Caine meets an annoyingly simpering Susannah York, and soon, they begin an affair. Now, even though Taylor is very aware of the situation (apparently this is a common enough occurence) she spends the majority of the movie in loud shrieking matches with Caine while trying to position herself as York's friend. As written, York's character must be somewhat of a simpleton to want to get involved with such an obviously insufferable prick as Caine, but since we are told via party-hostess Margaret Leighton that "She's prone to weeping if anything nice happens to her," she probably is.
Within X, Y and Zee, we are given endless scenes of Caine and Taylor swilling down drinks and arguing about York. At one point, the battle gets so heated, Caine throws Taylor down on their bed, ties her up and then drags her into the living room so they can discuss things like dry-cleaning bills (Taylor loves it). Taylor, for her part, likes to ride to York's flat and knock over her trashcans, or calling her asking "Is my husband in your skinny, chicken-like arms?" Eventually, Taylor can't stand it anymore and cuts her wrists, but is saved at the last minute by Caine who then confesses to York that he wished he'd let her die. We hear ya.
X, Y and Zee is also one of those kinds of movies that are so hip and now that it has one of those meant-to-be-profound non-ending endings. York reveals to Taylor that she was kicked out of school for kissing the nuns, so Taylor makes a surprise visit to York's flat and, it's implied though not specifically stated, they wind up having sex together...or at least that's what we can deduce. Caine arrives to find York in bed, all sullen and weepy, while Taylor smirks in the other room, and then just as Caine is about to say something to Taylor, the movie ends and the credits roll.
I wish I could say that X, Y and Zee was one of those 'so bad it's good' movies that provides tons of unintentional hilarity, and although there are brief moments where it feels like it's getting ready to really take off in that direction, what's on the screen is mostly lethargic and far too repetitious. All in all, X, Y and Zee is for Elizabeth Taylor completionists, only.