Chilly Scenes of Winter | |
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Directed by | Joan Micklin Silver |
Produced by | Mark Metcalf Amy Robinson Griffin Dunne |
Written by | Screenplay: Joan Micklin Silver Story: Ann Beattie |
Starring | John Heard Mary Beth Hurt Peter Riegert |
Music by | Ken Lauber |
Cinematography | Bobby Byrne |
Editing by | Cynthia Scheider |
Distributed by | United Artists Films |
Release date(s) | 1979 (USA) |
Running time | 92 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Chilly Scenes of Winter (originally released as Head over Heels) is a 1979 romantic comedy film, written and directed by Joan Micklin Silver.
The film is an adaptation of the 1976 novel Chilly Scenes of Winter by Ann Beattie.
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The first version of the film, with the title Head over Heels, had a happy ending. In 1982, the distributor re-released it with a new title to match the book, plus a new melancholy ending.[1] The film had a more successful run this time.[2]
Charles Richardson is a civil servant in his early 30s, working in the Department of Development, Salt Lake City, Utah, and an impetuous romantic.
One day he meets Laura Conley in the filing department of his office and it is love at first sight.
Laura is a married woman who has just moved out on her husband Ox, a log home salesman. She is disillusioned by own marriage and wants to find herself.
Charles gathers courage and asks her out. Soon she moves in with him and seems happy.
But she starts having second thoughts. According to Laura, he loves her too much. "You have this exalted view of me, and I hate it. If you think I'm that great then there must be something wrong with you."
Laura leaves Charles and goes back to her husband, Ox.
Sam, recently unemployed as a jacket salesman, moves in with Charles, who tries to grapple with the loss of Laura. Charles's mother, meanwhile, is an eccentric who has suicidal thoughts.
Charles begins to make efforts to win Laura back. Charles finds out from his secretary, Betty, that Laura has left Ox once again and is living in an apartment with a roommate.
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