Theoretical failure

I fell about laughing on reading the first few paragraphs of Matthew Reisz's superb dissection of an academically loopy interpretation of his father Karel Reisz's work ("A voyage round my father", 22 November). This article should be sent to every film studies department in the UK.

As someone who has just co-authored a book on the British film-maker Elinor Glyn, I know how important discussions with the surviving family can be to providing an authentic narrative. But for advocates of post-modern "critical theory", such engagements with unmediated reality are not worth bothering with.

Vincent Barnett, Harrow.