''Chilly Scenes of Winter'' (originally released as ''Head over Heels'') is a 1979 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film written and directed by Joan Micklin Silver, based on the 1976 novel of the same name by Ann Beattie.

Plot

Charles Richardson is a civil servant in his early 30s, working in the Department of Development in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

, and he is an impetuous romantic. One day, he meets Laura Connolly in the filing department of his office, and it is

love at first sight Love at first sight is a personal experience as well as a common trope in literature: a person or character feels an instant, extreme, and ultimately long-lasting romantic attraction for a stranger upon first seeing that stranger. Described by p ...

. Laura is a married woman who has just moved out on her husband Jim, a log-home salesman. She is disillusioned by her own marriage and wants to find herself. Charles gathers his courage and asks her out. Soon, she moves in with him and seems happy, but 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 Jim. 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 Jim once again and is living in an apartment with a roommate. Charles confronts Laura, finally asking her to decide if they will have a future together.

Cast

* John Heard as Charles *

Mary Beth Hurt Mary Beth Hurt (''née'' Supringer; born September 25, 1946) is an American actress of stage and screen. She is a three-time Tony Award-nominated actress. Notable films in which Hurt has appeared include '' Interiors'' (1978), ''The World Accord ...

as Laura *

Peter Riegert Peter Riegert (born April 11, 1947) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Donald "Boon" Schoenstein in ''Animal House'' (1978), oil company executive "Mac" MacIntyre in '' Local Hero'' (1983), pickle store owner Sam Posner in '' ...

as Sam * Kenneth McMillan as Pete *

Gloria Grahame Gloria Grahame Hallward (November 28, 1923 – October 5, 1981) was an Academy Award-winning American actress and singer. She began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in ''It's a Wond ...

as Clara *

Nora Heflin Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to: * Nora (name), a feminine given name People with the surname * Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer * Pierre Nora (born 1931), French historian Places Australia * Norah Head, New South Wales, headlan ...

as Betty *

Jerry Hardin Jerry Hardin (born November 20, 1929) is an American actor. Hardin has appeared in film and television roles, including the character nicknamed Deep Throat in ''The X-Files''. Hardin was born in Texas and studied acting at London's Royal Acade ...

as Patterson *

Tarah Nutter Terah or Terach ( he, תֶּרַח ''Teraḥ'') is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis. He is listed as the son of Nahor and father of the patriarch Abraham. As such, he is a descendant of Shem's son Arpachshad. Terah is mentioned in Gene ...

as Susan * Mark Metcalf as Jim *

Griffin Dunne Thomas Griffin Dunne (; born June 8, 1955) is an American actor, film producer, and film director. Dunne studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. He is known for portraying Jack Goodman in '' An Amer ...

as Mark

Production

Parts of the film were shot in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Release

The original version of the film, titled ''Head over Heels'', had a happy ending. In 1982, the distributor re-released it with a new melancholy ending (achieved by simply omitting the last scene), and the title was changed to match the novel. The film had a more successful run this time.

Reception

Reviewing the original version,

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the film as "seeming to be on the verge of some revelation of profound feeling that, at long last, never comes." However, he gave high praise to the acting, writing "there's not a false performance in the film."

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

referred to the film as divisive: "it will either charm or annoy" the viewer. He awards it two-and-a-half stars, presumably the original version. On review aggregator website,

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds a rating of 83%, based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.

References

External links

* * * * *
Chilly Scenes of Winter
' at the TCM Movie Database {{Joan Micklin Silver 1979 films 1979 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films Films based on American novels Films directed by Joan Micklin Silver Films scored by Ken Lauber Films set in Utah Films shot in Salt Lake City Films shot in Utah United Artists films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films