Chilly Scenes Of Winter (1979)

A civil servant (John Heard) is obsessed with  the married co-worker (Mary Beth Hurt) he had an affair with during the period she left her husband (Mark Metcalf). She has returned to her husband but that doesn't stop him from trying to win her back. Based on the novel by Anne Beattie and directed by Joan Micklin Silver (HESTER STREET). Originally released under the title of HEAD OVER HELLS, the film was a box office flop. Three years later, the film was re-released with a different ambiguous downbeat ending as opposed to the original happy ending which was closer to the original source material. The re-release had a more successful theatrical run. As to the movie itself, I found it more irritating than anything else albeit very well acted. All of the movie's characters are mentally or emotionally screwed up which doesn't make for an agreeable romantic comedy. Heard's character is essentially a stalker who can't move on and Hurt's unstable flirt selfishly plays on the emotions of both Heard and Metcalf as her husband while making up her mind. Heard's room mate (Peter Riegert) is a lazy unemployed bum, Heard's mother (Gloria Grahame) is psychotic and the list goes on. I suppose others may find this quirky and offbeat, I just found it a hot mess. With Kenneth McMillan, Nora Heflin and Griffin Dunne.