Press Release Criterion Press Release: Chilly Scenes of Winter (1979) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

​

The trailblazing Joan Micklin Silver—one of only five women to direct a film for a Hollywood studio in the 1970s—digs fearlessly into the psychology of a thorny relationship in this anti–romantic comedy, based on Ann Beattie’s best-selling novel, about lovelorn civil servant Charles (John Heard) and his married-but-separated coworker Laura (Mary Beth Hurt). Months after their affair has ended, Charles is haunted by memories as he desperately attempts to rekindle a love that perhaps never was. Switching deftly between past and present, Micklin Silver guides this piercing deconstruction of male wish-fulfillment fantasy beyond standard movie-romance tropes into something more complicated and cuttingly truthful.

FILM INFO​

• United States
• 1979
• 95 minutes
• Color
• 1.85:1
• English
• Spine #1176
  
  

  BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES​

  • New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • New program featuring producers Griffin Dunne, Mark Metcalf, and Amy Robinson
  • Documentary from 1983 by Katja Raganelli about director Joan Micklin Silver
  • Excerpts of a 2005 interview with Micklin Silver
  • Original ending of the film, cut by Micklin Silver for its rerelease in 1982
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: An essay by scholar Shonni Enelow
    
    New cover by Marc Aspinall
    
    March 28, 2023

 

[Ronald Epstein]

This space reserved for Amazon preorder link

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Wow, well this is an interesting choice for Criterion to release. This would be the second time it is getting a Blu. I have the first release. I would not have thought of this picture as something that would get the Criterion treatment. It was not particularly well thought of in its day and over the years has collected just a small cult following. It's a cool little picture for what it is, which is basically a quirky slice of life comedy. John Heard is excellent anchoring the show here and I do enjoy the film, a lot of that is me really liking this era of filmmaking. However, in terms of films of that era and certainly in terms of the history of film, does this stand out in any way? No. It's not one of the greats of the period of time it came out in and it does not make a blip on the radar screen in the history of motion pictures. It's a cult film, made for a small audience, and features a nice role for John Heard. If you like 1970s pictures, quirky stories about male/female relationships, and films set in a cold environment...well, check this one out.

Don't think I am knocking this picture, I am not. I am one of the people in the small cult that really likes it. I can name some pictures to watch with it, if you are interested. Pictures that, like this one, feature some good actors getting to do their thing in leads or decent sized parts during this timeframe. I guess my surprise here is that Criterion has put out a version of this, as when they release something I think it does raise that picture's profile by several notches and deems the film something special in the history of filmmaking. I have a feeling I know why this picture is getting a Criterion release, and honestly, I don't think it has to do with the picture itself.

All that said and already owning the previous Blu for this, I will likely pick this up during a sale because I am a fan of the film. So many other pictures that I think could have been released via Criterion over this one, just makes me scratch my head.

 

[Richard Kaufman]

Great novel if you're a hopeless romantic given to melancholy. Great movie, too, until the director chopped off the final scene (which came straight from the novel). Should have been available via seamless branching, not as an extra.

 

[bujaki]

I'm also a fan of this film.

 

[lark144]

I'm also a fan of this film.

We played this at the theater I managed when it was called HEAD OVER HEELS. Though hardly anyone went to see it, I've always considered it one of the best films of its year, and the few people that did come, came multiple times, and afterwards, we would have stimulating conversations in the lobby between the shows. Some evenings, Peter Rigert, who was between gigs at the time, would drop by and join us. Both the personal interactions and the film itself was very memorable. Though I like the novel, I find the film more moving, with a deep human core, half happy, half sad, that goes way beyond any "romantic comedy" I've ever seen. Maybe the film didn't do that well initially--it was re-released a few years later under the title of the novel where it received much better reviews and also did decent, if not overwhelming box office--because it was promoted as a wacky comedy. Its subject is similar to THE BIG CHILL, that of youthful illusions ebbing away, but made with a sense of bittersweet irony and poignancy, as well as a dexterity, and almost surreal visual virtuosity, that places it head and shoulders above Lawrence Kasdan's film, or any other film of its type. It soothes and burns, stimulates and saddens, stays in the mind like a crystalline ember. And it is at times uproariously funny, but in a way that is completely unexpected, that gets under your skin, along with all that snow and the strange edifices that dot the streets in Salt lake City where it was filmed, which seems a reflection of the main character's state of mind, a laugh out loud loneliness. It's a unique sensibility, a film that stands on its own, in a way indescribable, but in my view, a must see.

 

[cinefan]

We played this at the theater I managed when it was called HEAD OVER HEELS. Though hardly anyone went to see it, I've always considered it one of the best films of its year, and the few people that did come, came multiple times, and afterwards, we would have stimulating conversations in the lobby between the shows. Some evenings, Peter Rigert, who was between gigs at the time, would drop by and join us. Both the personal interactions and the film itself was very memorable. Though I like the novel, I find the film more moving, with a deep human core, half happy, half sad, that goes way beyond any "romantic comedy" I've ever seen. Maybe the film didn't do that well initially--it was re-released a few years later under the title of the novel where it received much better reviews and also did decent, if not overwhelming box office--because it was promoted as a wacky comedy. Its subject is similar to THE BIG CHILL, that of youthful illusions ebbing away, but made with a sense of bittersweet irony and poignancy, as well as a dexterity, and almost surreal visual virtuosity, that places it head and shoulders above Lawrence Kasdan's film, or any other film of its type. It soothes and burns, stimulates and saddens, stays in the mind like a crystalline ember. And it is at times uproariously funny, but in a way that is completely unexpected, that gets under your skin, along with all that snow and the strange edifices that dot the streets in Salt lake City where it was filmed, which seems a reflection of the main character's state of mind, a laugh out loud loneliness. It's a unique sensibility, a film that stands on its own, in a way indescribable, but in my view, a must see.

I have little to add to this eloquent appreciation of a film which I, too, think is exceptional. I first saw it in a campus screening at Syracuse University in, I think, 1982 or 83. It was the CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER cut with the altered ending. I found it one of those films that really lingers with you long after it is over. I have the Twilight Time blu-ray which has a commentary by Silver and producer Amy Robinson that I have not got around to listening to. It doesn't appear from the features list above that Criterion picked up the rights to that commentary.

 

[lark144]

I have little to add to this eloquent appreciation of a film which I, too, think is exceptional. I first saw it in a campus screening at Syracuse University in, I think, 1982 or 83. It was the CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER cut with the altered ending. I found it one of those films that really lingers with you long after it is over. I have the Twilight Time blu-ray which has a commentary by Silver and producer Amy Robinson that I have not got around to listening to. It doesn't appear from the features list above that Criterion picked up the rights to tby hat commentary.

We played it in '79, I think. I never got around to getting the TT Blu, but I intend to pick up the Criterion. I neglected to mention Gloria Grahame, who's remarkable in it. If you saw it in Syracuse on the hill between November and March, I imagine the landscape outside on the Quad resembled what was in the film. This is the original one sheet for the film, so you can see why no one came.

 

[bujaki]

We played this at the theater I managed when it was called HEAD OVER HEELS. Though hardly anyone went to see it, I've always considered it one of the best films of its year, and the few people that did come, came multiple times, and afterwards, we would have stimulating conversations in the lobby between the shows. Some evenings, Peter Rigert, who was between gigs at the time, would drop by and join us. Both the personal interactions and the film itself was very memorable. Though I like the novel, I find the film more moving, with a deep human core, half happy, half sad, that goes way beyond any "romantic comedy" I've ever seen. Maybe the film didn't do that well initially--it was re-released a few years later under the title of the novel where it received much better reviews and also did decent, if not overwhelming box office--because it was promoted as a wacky comedy. Its subject is similar to THE BIG CHILL, that of youthful illusions ebbing away, but made with a sense of bittersweet irony and poignancy, as well as a dexterity, and almost surreal visual virtuosity, that places it head and shoulders above Lawrence Kasdan's film, or any other film of its type. It soothes and burns, stimulates and saddens, stays in the mind like a crystalline ember. And it is at times uproariously funny, but in a way that is completely unexpected, that gets under your skin, along with all that snow and the strange edifices that dot the streets in Salt lake City where it was filmed, which seems a reflection of the main character's state of mind, a laugh out loud loneliness. It's a unique sensibility, a film that stands on its own, in a way indescribable, but in my view, a must see.

As far as The Big Chill is concerned, I feel it's vastly overrated. I prefer the more modest The Return of the Secaucus Seven, which covers the same ground without the bombastic grandiosity of Kasdan's film.

 

[lark144]

As far as The Big Chill is concerned, I feel it's vastly overrated. I prefer the more modest The Return of the Secaucus Seven, which covers the same ground without the bombastic grandiosity of Kasdan's film.

Agree. THE BIG CHILL is so glossy and chrismatic and soundtrack orientated, most people who made it a box office hit didn't realize what it was really about, the wilting of the flower children, the end of their dreams, their attempt to ignore death and their own self-centeredness and superficiality.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Agree. THE BIG CHILL is so glossy and chrismatic and soundtrack orientated, most people who made it a box office hit didn't realize what it was really about, the wilting of the flower children, the end of their dreams, their attempt to ignore death and their own self-centeredness and superficiality.

So the people that enjoy The Big Chill are ignorant about what the movie is all about. I think you’re being very judgmental about a large segment of people.

 

[lark144]

So the people that enjoy The Big Chill are ignorant about what the movie is all about. I think you’re being very judgmental about a large segment of people.

Actually, what I was saying has nothing to do with the people who enjoy THE BIG CHILL (BTW, I'm all for people enjoying films) but with the way it was made, which obscures and negates its underlying theme in a way that RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN--which was a huge influence on THE BIG CHILL--doesn't. That was what the conversation I was having with Jose was about, as we were comparing the two films, not the audiences. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear.

 

[Robert Crawford]

NVM, but I think Kasdan knew exactly what his film was about.