An Affair to Remember


An Affair to Remember is a 1957 American romance film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Filmed in CinemaScope, it was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is considered one of the most romantic films of all time, according to the American Film Institute. The film was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film Love Affair, starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer.

Plot

Nickie Ferrante, a well-known playboy, meets Terry McKay aboard the transatlantic ocean liner en route from Europe to New York. Each is involved with someone else. After a series of meetings aboard the ship, they establish a friendship. When Terry joins Nickie on a brief visit to his grandmother, Janou, while the ship is anchored near her home at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean coast, she sees Nickie with new eyes and their feelings become deeper. During their visit, Janou tells Terry that Nickie is a talented painter but destroys most of his paintings because they don't meet his standards. As the ship returns to New York City, they agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months' time if they have succeeded in ending their relationships and starting new careers.
On the day of their rendezvous, Terry, hurrying to reach the Empire State Building, is struck down by a car while crossing a street. Gravely injured, she is rushed to the hospital. Meanwhile, Nickie, waiting for her at the observation deck at the top of the building, is unaware of the accident and, after many hours, leaves at midnight, believing she has rejected him.
After the accident, Terry, now unable to walk, refuses to contact Nickie because of her disability. Instead, she finds work as a music teacher. Nickie has pursued his painting and has his work displayed by Courbet, an art gallery owner. Six months after the accident, Terry sees Nickie with his former fiancée at the ballet, which she herself is attending with her former boyfriend. Nickie does not notice her condition because she is seated, and she says hello as he passes her.
Nickie learns Terry's address and on Christmas Eve pays her a surprise visit. Although he tries to get her to explain her actions, Terry dodges the subject, never leaving the couch on which she sits. He gives her a shawl that Janou left for her after she died. As he is leaving, Nickie mentions a painting that he had been working on when they originally met, and that it was just given away to a woman who liked it but had no money. He is about to say that the woman was in a wheelchair when he pauses, suddenly suspecting why Terry has been sitting unmoving on the couch. He walks into her bedroom and sees the painting hanging on the wall. The film ends with the two in a tight embrace and Terry saying, "If you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen, don't you think?"

Cast

The film was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film Love Affair, starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. An Affair to Remember was almost identical to Love Affair on a scene-to-scene basis. McCarey used the same screenplay as the original film, written by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart. Also, the character name Terry McKay appears in both films.
The theme song "An Affair to Remember ", composed by Harry Warren and with lyrics by Leo McCarey and Harold Adamson, was sung by Vic Damone over opening credits and by Deborah Kerr during the film.

Soundtracks

Contemporary reviews were mixed. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times found the early part of the film fairly enjoyable, with "plenty of humorous conversation that is handled crisply" by the leads, but found that the picture went wrong after the couple got off the ship, writing: "The marriage pact seems ridiculously childish for a couple of adult people to make. The lady's failure to notify her fiancé of her accident seems absurd. The fact that the man does not hear of it in some way is beyond belief. And the slowness with which he grasps the obvious when he calls upon the lady is just too thick." Richard L. Coe of The Washington Post agreed, writing that the film "boasts early amusing reels that ultimately become unbelievably foolish in the quest for audience tears." Variety disagreed, calling the romance "never maudlin" and "wholly believable" in a positive review of what it called "a winning film" with "all the ingredients that should make it an ideal women's picture." Harrison's Reports was also positive, calling it "more enchanting and delightful than the original," and "so powerful in the closing scenes that one is unable to fight back the tears." John McCarten of The New Yorker was dismissive, writing that the actors were "tolerable, but the movie is really awfully maudlin." A generally positive review in The Monthly Film Bulletin called the film "a lush slice of Hollywood romanticism, unashamedly following most of the familiar conventions of glossy magazine fiction. To judge it on a higher level would normally seem unfair if it were not that here the script does succeed in cutting rather deeper. The relationship between Ferrante and Terry McKay is briskly developed, with an attractive, often touching humor."
The film holds a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews. In 1998, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100.

Awards and honors

The film was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Original Song and Best Original Score at the 30th Academy Awards.