Love Affair, one of the nominees for Best Picture of 1939, has been remade at least twice. The first time was as An Affair to Remember in 1957 with Deborah Kerr and Cary Grant, and almost everyone is familiar with that version thanks to Sleepless in Seattle(if someone didn't know about it before, that is). The most recent remake in 1994 starred Warren Beatty and his wife Annette Bening, and it's pretty much a disaster. When you return to the original, though, you realize that no one needed to tamper with what was already a charming, deeply romantic film. It certainly had no shot at beating Gone With the Wind that year, but Love Affair is a movie still worthy of our attention and our affection.
Charles Boyer plays Michel Marnay, a French playboy who is taking a steamship to America so that he can finally be wed. His bride-to-be, Lois Clarke (Astrid Allwyn), is the daughter of a wealthy industrialist. (Aren't all industrialists in the movies wealthy?) He gets a lot of attention on board the ship because everyone has heard of his reputation as a womanizer; his name appears frequently in the newspapers, usually in rather large headlines. He is a famous public figure who has never even had an occupation. He meets Terry McKay when the letter he's reading blows through a porthole and she picks it up and starts reading it. They begin talking, and he invites himself back to her cabin. Terry, played by Irene Dunne, is pretty sharp, though, and doesn't fall for his advances, especially when she learns that the letter is not from his fiance but from the fiance's best friend with whom Marcel has shared an intimate trip to Lake Cuomo.
This portion of the film being set aboard a ship, they conveniently keep bumping into each other. After they begin dining together and having drinks together regularly, the other passengers start to become suspicious of a shipboard romance. People even try to eavesdrop on their conversations, and there is some very witty banter there, especially as delivered by Dunne. Michel and Terry don't help to squelch the rumors when they rip out film from a camera after their picture is snapped. They do try to split up, but they are seated side by side when they request individual tables. It's inevitable that they spend time together and start to learn more about each other.
During one of the ports of call, the last before they make their way to New York, Terry accompanies Michel to the top of a mountain in Medeira to visit his grandmother, played with Old World charm by Maria Ouspenskaya. The older woman knows a romance when she sees one, and she talks to Terry about her grandson in such a way that you know she's trying to set them up. Soon Terry knows that Michel is a talented artist who has never seriously considered a career as a painter, and she seems to forget that he is already engaged to another woman. It's when Terry sings, though, that Michel falls in love with her. Ouspenskaya's grandmother is playing the piano at his request, but it's Dunne's voice that makes him realize that Terry would be a better choice than Lois. One of Boyer's best moments in the film is his reaction to Dunn's charming performance; you can see the love develop in his eyes as he looks at her.
They quickly remember, however, that both of them have partners waiting at home. In fact, their partners will both be at the docks when they reach New York. They discuss how they might know if their circumstances change and they can be together. They make a plan to meet in six months at the Empire State Building. That would make it July 1, and before that day arrives, both of them deal with some significant changes in their lives. Michel breaks off his engagement to Lois, a story which is carried in the papers, and Terry moves to Philadelphia to resume her career as a singer. Her apartment in New York has a direct view of the Empire State Building, and the building's reflection shines in the open door. No wonder she has to leave; she has a constant reminder that she loves someone other than her fiance.
Terry returns to the city on July 1 with only a few minutes to spare, but thanks to an interruption by her former fiance, she has to rush to get to the Empire State Building, and a car hits her when she tries to cross the street quickly without looking at the traffic. Michel has, of course, already gotten to the observation deck of the building, but he doesn't see what happened below. After waiting several more hours, he leaves thinking that she chose not to see him. He leaves the United States again, hoping to see his grandmother, but when he gets to Medeira, he discovers that she has already passed away. She has left behind a shawl that she promised to Terry, though; even after death, she has conspired to get the two of them together.
When he finally returns to New York after starting a career as an artist, Lois convinces him to join her at the theater on Christmas. He sees Terry with her fiance as he leaves the theater, and he is shaken. The next day he tracks her down at the orphanage where she works teaching singing and confronts her as to why she never came. He does so by lying that he didn't show up and by speculating as to why that might have been the case. Slowly, he learns the truth of what happened that day and that she is still an invalid. They are reconciled, and she promises that both of them will achieve their dreams.
It's tough not to notice the repeated visual references to the Empire State Building. When Terry and Michel have their conversation on the ship about the plans for the July 1 meeting, it towers above the fog of New York City--something that might have been possible in 1939 but seems unlikely today given the number of subsequent skyscrapers that have been built. I've already mentioned the reflection of the building on Terry's door. What a testament to the cinematographers at RKO that they could pull off that shot. While he is waiting for July 1 to arrive, Michel takes a menial job as a billboard painter. One of his jobs has a clear view of the Empire State Building. Filmmakers in those days knew how to use a visual cue consistently throughout a movie.
This is not a perfect movie, however. For instance, the orphans are a bit too well-scrubbed, and all of them are talented singers. That must have been some very selective orphanage, but you need good child singers to make Terry seem more successful at her job. However, the bigger issue is what makes Terry so stubborn about getting word to Michel about her injury. Surely he would have understood and rushed to her side if he truly loved her. Yet she claims she doesn't want him to know. She seems to want to be her perfect self whenever she's with him. I guess that makes the ending even more touching and romantic, but it inflicts a great deal of pain on both of them in the meantime. I suppose that's why we've come to expect some pain and separation in most romantic films.
If you watch Love Affair, perhaps you too will develop a craving for pink champagne, Michel's and then Terry's favorite drink. You'll also witness two great actors, Dunne and Boyer, doing some of their best work. I've started to become more familiar with Dunne's acting since I started this project, and she's quickly becoming one of my favorites. She was adept at drama and comedy, and she has a lovely quasi-operatic voice that she displays here. Boyer was always charming and dashing in his roles. He could play a villain well, as in the movie Gaslight, but he was so good at playing the romantic lead. Here he is given a chance to express with his face the growing depth of Michel's affection for Terry, and it's a masterful performance. Dunn was nominated for Best Actress of 1939, but Boyer was overlooked in the Best Actor category. That's a shame because both of them are outstanding.
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