Cinema History: An Affair to Remember

*I do not own any images in this post, all credits are linked below*

You’re on holiday on a cruise ship to ring in the New Year. You needed a quiet get-away, but instead, you get mixed up with the most charming person on the ship. This person has a reputation for being quite the player, and you fall for the stereotype at first. After simply having dinner together, all passengers on the ship are watching your every move. You realise the risks you take in being seen with this person, but you’re so charmed you can’t help it. What’s worse is both of you are already involved with someone back home. You’ve been with someone else for five years and still haven’t gotten engaged, and your new lover is supposed to get married when the cruise is over. The two of you think it best to distance yourselves from one another, but this only makes you long for each other more. You make a pact that in six months, after the cruise, if you both are still in love, you’ll go to the top of the Empire State Building and from there get married. Even after arriving home, you know you’ve found the love of your life. You wait the painstaking six months, and on the day you are supposed to meet, you’re so excited you can hardly stand it. As you’re running to meet your love, you get so swept up in your emotions that you get into a terrible accident. You wake in a hospital with the people who care for you most standing round you, looking awfully concerned. The doctors say you will never walk again and will be paralysed from your hips down for the rest of your life. You’re so ashamed, so embarrassed, and so grieved by this, you can’t let your lover know why you never met at the top of the Empire State Building. But how long can you keep this secret? Months, a year, longer? You are desperately and hopelessly in love, but you cannot bring yourself to admit why you never came.

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An Affair to Remember is a 1957 film directed by Leo McCarey. This timeless, tragic romance stars Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. It is based on the film Love Affair by the same director, that starred Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. This film has been adapted and has inspired numerous other movies in its time. It tells the story of a playboy and a singer who happened to meet and fall madly in love. It has been capturing the hearts of audience members for nearly 70 years with its gripping tale.

Cary Grant plays his usual role as the playboy Nick Ferrante. The film begins with TV news segments telling of Ferrante’s latest flame whom he intends to marry (for her money mostly.) But as he searches for his lost cigarette case, he finds himself wrapped up in a most surprising love affair with the elegant and classy Terry McKay. Grant’s ability to transition from the playboy to the ultimate romantic is in full force in An Affair to Remember, and Deborah Kerr’s performance is the perfect compliment.

Nick and Terry realise that their love is dangerous, as he is supposed to get married and has little money to his name, and she has been involved with a boyfriend for five steady years. Their agreement is to meet in six months if they find they still love each other. Terry’s excitement and impatience cause her to run out into the road and consequently get hit by a car. There is almost nothing more tragic than the next scene in which Nick is waiting eagerly for her arrival that never comes. Both deeply hurt by this accident, Terry and Nick carry on with life as best as they can, until they bump into each other again a year later.

This is one of the most beautiful love stories that has ever been put to film. If you have seen An Affair to Remember, leave a comment below. Or, if you’ve seen Sleepless in Seattle, you might know this is the movie they refer to constantly. Seriously, you’ve got to watch it if you haven’t already, and tell me how you like it!

Image Credits:

Poster: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BN2M3YjI1YTUtNDFlOS00MGNiLWExZjctNjY1ODFhYjYxMWMwXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMDI2NDg0NQ@@._V1_.jpg

Mr. Grant: https://cps-static.rovicorp.com/2/Open/Getty/502904/_derived_jpg_q90_310x470_m0/2716917.jpg

Ms. Kerr: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c8/e9/1a/c8e91a16333d54d79ec78a3e2f8c8ef7.jpg