cliff, meanwhile, has been hired by his pompous brother-in-law, lester (alan alda), a successful television producer, to make a documentary celebrating lester's life and work. cliff grows to despise him. while filming and mocking the subject, cliff falls in love with lester's associate producer, halley reed (mia farrow). despondent over his failing marriage to lester's sister wendy (joanna gleason), he woos halley, showing her footage from his ongoing documentary about prof. louis levy (psychologist martin s. bergmann), a renowned philosopher. he makes sure halley is aware that he is shooting lester's documentary merely for the money so he can finish his more meaningful project with levy.