The Nearest Thing to Heaven

My next movie is one that I've been meaning to watch for a while now - An Affair to Remember (released in July, 1957). Ever since seeing Sleepless In Seattle the most recent time, and watching all of the women who watched Affair dissolve into tearful messes, I decided that I must watch this movie that they deemed so beautiful. I figured it would be good - you don't usually go wrong with the great Cary Grant or the wonderful Deborah Kerr, not to mention director Leo McCarey (who directed The Bells of Saint Mary - another lesser known, but wonderful movie) - but I didn't think that I would dissolve into a tearful mess.

Boy was I wrong.

If I had watched this movie in the proper fashion - at home, surrounded by a blanket, some chocolate, and my cat curled up next to me - I would have been bawling like a baby. As I had to stop and start it a few times, the dramatic tension lessened a bit.

Ten minutes into the film, I was hooked. Cary Grant has a way of speaking quickly and throwing in tiny jabs in the most light-hearted way and Deborah Kerr matches him jab-for-jab here. The conversation is witty and quick, but also seems very natural - something that is difficult to achieve. I transcribed my favorite piece of dialogue in the movie for you here.

Terry (Kerr) refuses Nickie's (Grant) advances, since she already has a man in her life. Since Nickie is used to women falling at his feet, this is odd for him, and he admits to being embarrassed.


DK: (with great concern) I do hope it won't affect your ego.

CG: Don't think anything of it. I'll just take my ego for a walk...Unless you'd care to..."

DK: Have dinner with you? I'd love to!"


The movie continues on, and a romance develops, as one could clearly see would happen. The first kiss is very sweet and classy. Terry stalls on the stairs that they're walking down together, hesitating. Nickie steps up and both of their heads disappear behind the upper floor, as they seem to share a most romantic kiss. They promise to disentangle from their lives, get jobs to support one another, and meet at the top of the Empire State Building in six months if all goes well.

If you've seen Sleepless in Seattle, you know all does not go well. Nickie waits and waits at the top of the Empire State Building and we watch him grow more and more dejected and miserable. In a beautiful bit of filmmaking, we are watching Nickie, but hear the sad, sad siren of an ambulance in the background - we know it's for her, as we heard her scream and the screech of tires earlier.

Then comes the part where they're figuring out what to do with their lives now that all has gone wrong. A pointless double-singing of a boring song called "Tomorrowland" by an out-of-tune children's choir that Terry directs kicks me out of my romantic reverie. I tried to see if there was a point to this endless "Tomorrowland" song, but there didn't seem to be. If you have some clue, please enlighten me! This seemed to be the only flaw in the movie for me.

The ending was quite beautiful, and I couldn't be more glad that it was a happy one. I thought for sure that Nickie was going to walk out without Terry even telling him about the accident that kept her from meeting him. But the thought and a sequence of coincidences stopped him and he stayed and she told him and it was sad and beautiful and happy all at once.

A completely satisfying movie. I only wish that all romances were this witty and heartwarming. Now excuse me while I dissolve into a tearful mess.