I loved it. Absolutely and without a doubt, this movie has been playing in my mind from the very first time I caught it on one of the nameless local TV channels we had way back when. I had no idea who the actors were or what the title of the movie was (I caught it about one-fifth through) but it sort of just stuck to me. It’s been years since I first saw it, and finally, I found a copy (not that I was neurotically looking for one) in Landmark’s video section. An Affair to Remember. Cary Grant. Deborah Kerr. Oh, yeah. The debonair and the delightful. After so many years (dare I say exactly how many?), I still found myself crying over the same songs, the same lines, and most definitely, the same poignant ending. The clothes, the dialogue, the music… aah! Brilliant, totally and absolutely beautiful.
After looking at the back of the CD case for hours (again, this is an isolated display of neurotic activity), I proudly discover that it had been nominated for Cinematography, Scoring, Costume Design, and Best Song in the 1957 Academy Awards. I couldn’t have been happier knowing that during the 50’s, this was probably just one of those romance flicks that people seldom pay Oscar-level scrutiny to. But this story just grabbed me and had me wishing that I lived during the 50’s.
Their story was just so romantic in the most basic sense of the word that it struck me as real and surreal at the same time. Cary Grant’s (the Cary Grant!) character, Nicolo, and Deborah Kerr’s character, Terry, both already engaged to someone else, find themselves falling deeply in love in an ocean liner on its way to where their someone-else’s are waiting for them. The humorous events in the ship involving their shipmates (lots of socialites!) add to the romance of the story.
So, anyway, they eventually had to part when they reach their destination but vow to each other that unless there is a very, very, very good reason, they’d meet up again (this time unattached) at the top of the Empire State Building. But then, problem: Terry doesn’t show up. Aah! By this time I was finished with two boxes of Kleenex and reaching for another one while watching Nicky wait in a thunderstorm for a Terry who evidently wasn’t going to be there. Terry, who had been hit by a car just minutes before the meeting time because she was rushing to see Nicky, was helpless in her unconscious state. Time passes with Nicky thinking that Terry didn’t show up because her love for him was not strong enough (oh, men and their assumptions!). Terry ends up lame and in a wheelchair and doesn’t try to reach Nicky and tell him the reason for her absence because she didn’t want him to pity her (oh, women and their pride!). Anyway, the story ends happily (with me shoving Kleenexes up my nose and my eyes swollen and dry) when Nicky finally visits Terry to say Merry Christmas (wushu!) and discovers the real reason for her absence.
Classic. Oh, yeah. Just thinking about it makes me want to grab some popcorn and watch it for, oh, I don’t know, the 89th time? My friends think I’m psycho, drooling over a dead guy and crying over a movie my parents don’t even remember but An Affair just transports me to that once-upon-a-time moment in this world’s history when romance was alive and people didn’t have to be half-naked to grab the attention of the other sex.
But movies are movies, and I know that endings in real life aren’t always happy. I know. But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t dream of happy endings and professes of undying love. Romance and dreams should always be alive whether in a Hollywood movie or right where we are. People sometimes just forget. I think it’s time people started remembering that era of sweet nothings and love whispers. Maybe then we can find for ourselves our own Affairs to Remember.