Chilly Scenes of Winter is a 1979 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Joan Micklin Silver, and starring John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt, Peter Riegert, Kenneth McMillan, and Gloria Grahame.

Based on the 1976 novel by Ann Beattie, it follows a civil servant worker in Salt Lake City who falls in love with a recently-separated woman who works in his office building.

Following an unfavorable box-office performance, United Artists re-released the film in 1982 as Chilly Scenes of Winter, featuring an alternate cut which concludes with a downbeat ending, unlike the original version and its source novel.

[2] Charles Richardson is a civil servant in his early thirties, working in the Department of Development in Salt Lake City, Utah.

A depressed and impetuous romantic, Charles drinks on the job, lamenting his former lover, Laura, an administrative assistant in the office's filing department.

Consumed by his obsession with Laura, Charles frequently parks outside her and Jim's A-frame house, and at home constructs a miniature replica of it, complete with figurines and furniture.

In the original release, the film ends as such: One day after returning home from work after doing a jog, Charles finds Laura there, cooking a dessert soufflé in the kitchen.

Metcalf and his fellow producers Griffin Dunne and Amy Robinson had always intended Heard to play the lead, and turned down the offer.

[5] Metcalf has stated that Meryl Streep originally agreed to play the role of Laura, but only if Sam Waterston was cast as Charles.

[4] Ann Beattie, who "loved" Silver's script, gave the producers an option for her book with the proviso that they give her a bit part in the movie.

[11] This version omitted the uplifting ending featuring Charles and Laura's reconciliation, instead resolving with a more ambiguous conclusion that does not result in the couple remaining united.

[1] Reviewing the original cut of the film, Vincent Canby of The New York Times described it as "seeming to be on the verge of some revelation of profound feeling that, at long last, never comes."

[19] Writing for DVD Talk, Justin Remer noted: "Chilly Scenes of Winter might be the best American movie about a romantic break-up.

The film is not well-known now, but it wouldn't be hard to imagine someone on the creative team of High Fidelity half-remembering this smart little flick and taking just a little inspiration from it.