Irreconcilable Differences (1984 Charles Shyer)

It's insane how many echoes bounce off this film, which in 2010 - clearly in some detoxing mood - I dismissed with "I found their arguing annoying and not the stuff of an entertaining and engaging 90 minutes". On the contrary, it's pretty funny and one of the first interesting things is that Sheyer and his then wife (1980 - 1999) Nancy Myers wrote it just like the film's central couple Ryan O'Neal and Shelley Long (both good). The way she suggests the first scene be re-written is a brilliant little exploration of what screenwriting is. Whilst by no means a rare occurrence, the plot also has a resonance of Peter Bogdanovich, Cybill Shepherd, The Last Picture Show and Polly Platt, the other woman here being Sharon Stone.

The second is how the huge failure of 'Atlanta' mirrors that of Heaven's Gate which collapsed so spectacularly that it changed the way films were produced, taking budgets away from directors and giving them instead to box-office stars.

Then apart from the auteurs you start to see it as a film about any parents who don't look after their children properly. The unfortunate bounce of that can be seen in the lives of both Ryan O'Neal and Drew Barrymore, the former having had difficult relationships with his children and several marriages. Drew's parents divorced around this time and she soon took to drugs. Drew is great in this and it's heart-breaking that she chooses to live with her 'mother' Maria (Hortensia Colorado) rather than tolerate the selfish behaviour of her parents any longer (they end up as bad as each other though it's all Ryan's fault in the first place - in fact from the very moment he declares himself not interested in 'romance and fun').

For film purists one would argue that 1934 does not represent 'early Lubitsch' at all; but also to recognise that the elaborate shot in 'Atlanta' is a homage to the famous equivalent in GWTW.

Under the banner of 'The Lost Collection' we have a very dark print in 4x3, which can't be right. William Fraker's lighting is meant to be very natural, but not unseeable. From this is taken a deliberately provocative screen shot in an attempt to childishly wind up Q:

Sam Wanamaker is the film producer.