Nick Ferrante is an international bon vivant, a well known playboy and dilettante in the arts. Terry McKay is a vibrant girl, a refined singer and musician. Ordinarily they would probably never have exchanged more than a polite nod upon running into each other on the stairwell to a play or ballet, but the two of them happen to be at the same cruise from Europe to New York. A cruise takes a very long time to reach its destination and as fate would have it, the two of them ran into each other accidentally enough times that they decided to meet each other on purpose once and after that it wasn’t long before they became interested in one another and establish a friendship. There was of course a problem. A cruise is a very restricted environment and Nick is a well known figure. When he is seen with the same girl everywhere on the ship the guests and crew don’t fail to notice and pretty soon there are eyes and camera lenses over them everywhere they go. Everyone assumes they are romantically engaged and that’s a very big problem because the two of them are in fact engaged to be married other people back in New york.
When the ship anchors neat Villefranche-sur-Mer for a brief stop, Terry accompanies Mnick to a visit to his grandmother – a welcome oportunity to spend time together away from the watchful eyes in the cruise. And in observing his relationship with his grandmother, Terry sees Nicky under a new light. She discovers he used to be an altar boy! He is charming and tender, he plays the piano and is a gifted painter, an art he abandoned for lack of confidence in his own abilities… His grandmother is a delightful woman and she becomes quite fond of Terry as well.
Back on the ship their feelings blossom and they sneak around a lot, trying to find small moments in which the can be together. This results in a moment, at the stairs, that’s probably one of the most fantastic kissing scenes I have ever seen…
In the final day, when they’re about to go their own ways, they make a promise. Each of them will break their respective engagements and six months from now they will meet, at the top of the Empire State Building. It’s a date…
“Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories… we’ve already missed the spring!”
An affair to remember is one of the best written love stories I have ever seen. Love reforms them both in a way that is both believable and endearing. Both of them know that in order to be with each other they will have to change and they embrace those changes wholeheartedly and boldly. They don’t wait for it, they make things happen. And there are several possible futures for them in the movie, envisioned and mutated all over again. And when some things inevitably don’t go quite as they plan we feel deeply for Terry and Nick. We’re with them every step of the way. The movie’s finale happens in December in a room decorated with a Christmas tree. There are some deeply sad moments in this film (some jaw-dropping moments as well, which is why I advise against reading too many synopses prior to watching it), but the characters’ personalities, the wishes that are fulfilled and the very mood of the story are all very much in line with the spirit of the holidays.
Sometimes it seems like some authors believe that every important landmark in a person’s life has to happen when they’re still teenagers and one the things I loved about this film is that it makes clear that that is not so. It is obvious from the beginning that this is a love story about mature characters and the story is even better because of that. Neither of them are new comers and they don’t exactly fall in ‘love at first sight’. They have a past, they have made mistakes and because of that the characters have far more depth than love struck teenagers in a YA adaptation. But their love feels fresh and they seem to be having fun in spite of their worries the entire time. Even though Terry and Nick are not youngsters anymore, they are still growing and changing – in fact, simply the genuine feeling that blossoms between them makes they want to change, - which is made clear in these lines:
“It is a good place to sit and remember, but you have still to create your memories.”
The acting of course, is fantastic… Debora Kerr said in an interview that a lot of their scenes were improvised and the film definitely feels very natural. There are so many moments in this film that go beyond the script. The kissing scene I mentioned in the ship (you just have to see it to know what I am talking about)… And then when the ship is about to anchor in new York, an entire conversation takes place in looks and nods while they wave to their respective partners waiting in the shore.
It adds layers to the stories that the partners both his and hers are not shallow archetypes made to be hated or laughed at (like that girl in Twister). They are actually pretty great people, particularly Terry’s fiancé as it becomes clear towards the end of the movie. And in spite of that we still side with Nick and Terry.
Nick in particular… Much like other roles of Cary Grant, Nick is a strong male. He stands by his word and his choices, takes control of his life and above all else, go after what he wants… The love story told in this film is very mature in that they are not playing silly games… There are none of the tropes commonly seen in love stories like “waiting for the other person to make the first move”, “not calling/contact in order to ‘win’ the situation”, “not saying what needs or wants to be said to preserve some sort of pride”, there’s none of that. Nick is a man that goes after what he wants. And when he has something to say, when he believes in his heart that he has to, he goes after Terry and that makes for one of the most incredible endings I have ever seen in a movie. Not many scripts could have ‘saved’ this story after all the turns it takes, but somehow the script managed to find what seems like the only possible, perfect ending.
In addition to all that, there beautiful shots that embody the idea of separation and a gap between them… There is always something… A door, the wall between their tables at a restaurant, a staircase… Those shots, along with the incredible backgrounds of New York and the French Riviera make for a beautiful film to watch…
An affair to remember | 1957 | Directed by Leo McCarey | Written by Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart and Leo McCarey | Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning
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