An Affair to Remember

Audience Reviews

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Finn S Dec 26, 2018 Melodrama and romance in An Affair to Remember! As cute and romantic as An Affair to Remember (1957) certainly is, the film loses steam halfway through. I found the affair part far more memorable than the proceeding on and off again tragedy. The boat ride is such a quaint setting and the romancing is very sweet and playful. After the sentimental and sweet visit to grandma's in France, the movie slows down for some serious contrived conflicts. I do not like Cary Grant's tan, the forced issue of Deborah Kerr's accident, nor Grant's not being informed of said accident. She would only hold back such information in a movie script, it never feels realistic or grounded. On the other hand, Cary Grant is very charming and handsome in An Affair to Remember. Even though he's a cheater, he is very funny and suave enough to like as a main character. He is the real draw here as you genuinely start to feel sorry for him. Then, there's Deborah Kerr. She is beautiful and charming, but I feel like other than her dialogue, she doesn't get to do anything. The tedious child choir songs she conducts are so bad and awkward. I liked her flirtatious charms from the first half, but Kerr suddenly disappears in the convoluted plot and feels secondary to Grant by the end. Her decisions are so strangely accounted for in the script that Kerr has little to work with, but at least she sings wonderfully. I love the main theme music, especially during the piano serenade at Grant's grandmother's home in France. It's a sweet moment that takes you away. Unfortunately, the pacing of An Affair to Remember starts slow and turns to molasses as you are just waiting for them to get together again. Overall, Leo McCarey is a talented director for setting up fun sequences and cute shots of the couple, but An Affair to Remember is edited to make you fall asleep. This story could have been told beautifully in an hour and a half instead of two whole hours worth of fluff. An Affair to Remember reaches for the unforgettable, but falls into the mediocre by the finale. See more

Hagrid R Mar 18, 2018 Didn't really find it very funny but I was hooked from the start.

Leia S Feb 10, 2018 1001 movies to see before you die.

Rey G Jan 25, 2018 I'm a sucker for romantic films (full disclosure), and this one is so beautiful. The story is pretty well known, having been re-made several times (and heavily referenced in 'Sleepless in Seattle'), so I won't summarize it. Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr are absolutely charming, with their natural sophistication and class combined with little moments of humor, sadness, and dialog that is very natural. Their time on the ship and then with his grandmother (Cathleen Nesbitt) in her hilltop home on the French Riviera is magical. The film has a couple of artificial plot devices and is unrestrained in going for the emotional jugular at the end, which will have cynics howling. On the other hand, there is a lovely element of restraint in the pair's passion for one another. The two don't "do anything" despite their feelings, and director Leo McCarey even films one of their few kisses by showing their legs only on one of the ship's staircases. At the same time, everyone knows that Grant's character is a womanizer, he clearly tries to seduce Kerr in the beginning, and there is a sexual subtext to it all. There are many very nice little moments along the way to the ones people remember most. Grant getting flustered early on when rebuffed. Kerr saying "well that's the only page" with steely eyes, after Grant tells her that her life story is "only one page." The entire scene with Nesbitt, with her sweet old face and knowing eyes. As Nesbitt plays piano, Grant looking intently at Kerr singing (actually lip-synching Marni Nixon). Kerr saying "while we miss each other" as she pushes Grant out of her room, and then him poking his head back in to say "oh that was very sweet", lightly kissing her hand, and then "what you just said." What a great little bit of acting that was. The bigger moments are pretty special too. Grant's expression as he waits at the top of the Empire State Building, with the elevator operator noticing him again and again. That moment when they meet after the ballet, in the company of others. Does he fly into a rage or make an angry remark? No, he simply helps her with something she's dropped, though his eyes speak volumes. And of course, the final scene, when he finally does meet her alone, still not knowing her condition, and pretending he was the one who didn't show up that night. Yes, it's contrived, but her sacrifice and his regret for saying things without knowing the whole truth strike a chord. Who hasn't done something foolish in their love life at one point or another? I truly wish the last line had been changed ("If you can paint, I can walk..."), and the film is also a little heavy-handed in its Catholic references. The biggest issue, however, is in the scenes when the couple is separated in the second half of the film. The two songs from the children's chorus are excessively long, not particularly charming, and in one (of course) the African-American boy and girl pop out to do a dance. Kerr's singing performances are uninspired and also just get in the way. The back half of the film should have been tightened up, and Kerr's condition made permanent, to keep this already sweet film balanced. For that I lowered my review score a teeny bit, but it's still a classic romance in my book. See more

Draco L Jan 5, 2018 Boy the pacing of this just really threw me. Like on one hand you have this brilliant movie - full of what-if tension, accidents, rainy nights and clandestine kisses - and on the other hand it's like bloated nonsense of children's choirs and deflating fluff. I'd love a recut that's a solid half hour shorter. But whatever, Cary Grant is wonderful as always and Deborah Kerr holds her own. I adore that shot of them on the ships stairs kissing, where you can only see their legs and hands. Also I can't help but think this is such a Christian movie of upright morality and not saying what you mean in order to not inconvenience the other person... kinda funny for a movie about an affair. Never mind one thats partially set in New York, land of "hey fuck YOU buddy." See more

Luke M Dec 17, 2017 Romantic and... sad.

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An Affair to Remember

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