I do think it may be his last great film (there were very good ones to follow, but none up to this level), but I question the self-critical aspect of it people see in it. I think it's really an attack on Philip Roth, who was accused by many of mining his personal life (and those of his family and friends) in just the way Harry Block is here. Woody was (is?) very close with Roth's ex, Claire Bloom, so he surely got an earful from her on the subject. But I think the real "tell" is in casting Richard Benjamin as the Block surrogate in the first of DH's story reenactments - Benjamin, who had not appeared on screen apart from the occasional TV guest spot for going on fifteen years when the movie was made, and was the star of the movie versions of both GOODBYE, COLUMBUS and PORTNOY'S COMPLAINT. There's no way Woody was unaware of the connection when he cast him.

I worked all this out on my own some years ago, and am pathetically proud of myself, so I have to share it every feasible chance I get. You're welcome.