Love Affair

Composite Score: 82.77

Starring: Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer, Maria Ouspenskaya, Lee Bowman, Astrid Allwyn, and Maurice Moscovitch

Director: Leo McCarey

Writers: Delmer Daves, Donald Ogden Stewart, Mildred Cram, and Leo McCarey

Genres: Drama, Romance, Holiday

MPAA Rating: Approved

Box Office: $1.80 million worldwide

Why should you Watch This Film?

                Love Affair is a classic romantic drama from Leo McCarey about two engaged people who meet and fall in love with one another on a ship crossing the Atlantic. The film has become an icon of the early days of romantic films, establishing tropes of miscommunication, hesitancy to commit, and the Empire State Building as a romantic destination. It was later remade by McCarey as An Affair to Remember, which served as the central inspiration for Nora Ephron’s Sleepless in Seattle, and it was again remade in the 1990s under its original title by Glenn Gordon Caron and Warren Beatty. Though its later iterations might be more famous and familiar, the original set the tone for romantic dramas, thanks to its original storytelling and strong performances from its leading characters.

Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?

                Love Affair features a veritable playboy as its male lead, Michel Marnay, played by Charles Boyer. Marnay is apparently the most eligible bachelor in the world (or France, or the U.S., or maybe just the Western world, unclear) at the film’s start and has just become engaged to a wealthy American heiress. Immediately, upon his introduction, the audience sees him reading a message about a different lover and attempting to seduce Terry McKay, the film’s female lead played by Irene Dunne. From the jump, it is clear that this guy is not the most upstanding, but he is the one we are meant to root for. Now, being a romance, his interactions with Terry lead him to change his views on women and apparently “settle down” into someone who is ready for a more monogamous lifestyle. That being said, it feels a little off to just excuse past womanizing and disrespect as offhandedly as it happens in this film. It leans a bit into the normalizing of such a lifestyle for younger men, implying that they can do all of that and then as long as they settle down a bit, they’ll still be worthy of marriage to a beautiful woman who did not participate in most of the same debauchery. It’s not necessarily an overt double standard but more of an implicit “boys will be boys” statement, which is in my mind less than progressive.

So wait, why should you Watch This Film?

                I want to speak first to the film’s story, which was so original and well-crafted that it launched a veritable cinematic universe of remakes and films inspired by it, which have already been mentioned. From the rather scandalous meet-cute aboard the trans-Atlantic ship to their decision to wait six months before meeting again to the soapy complication of Terry’s injury to the couple’s growth independently of one another to their inevitable reunion at the film’s conclusion, Love Affair weaves a story that grabs its audience’s interest and keeps them entertained and guessing to its very end. With all of its glorious highs and lows, particularly the scene during their courtship with Michel’s grandmother where Terry (and the audience) gets to see a different side of the man who has been dining with her on their voyage and the scene of their accidental reunion at the opera that sends them both into a bit of a spiral and the film’s concluding scene where they meet yet again and the truth finally comes out, it fully entertains with quality character development that makes sense and complex plot points that the pair must overcome.

                Accentuating the film’s excellent story, the two leads (Dunne and Boyer) deliver great performances, supported also by Maria Ouspenskaya as Michel’s grandmother. Boyer plays the hesitant playboy who morphs into a romantic artist excellently. His wit and charm come through, making even his early lack of moral compass come across as problematically lovable. Dunne’s turn as the passionate singer Terry garnered attention from the Academy, receiving a nomination for Best Lead Actress. She brings considerable emotion to the complex leading role, making the audience fall in love with her even as Michel does. The film’s greatest acting highlight comes in a single scene where Michel and Terry go ashore on an island to spend the afternoon with Michel’s grandmother, played artfully by Maria Ouspenskaya. Her simple, caring, and authentic take on the character lends a third dimension to the romance between the two leads in that moment that then carries through to the end of the film. The realness that she brought to the role also warranted nominations, getting one from the Academy for Best Supporting Actress.

                Thanks to its stellar leading performances and iconic original story, Love Affair has earned a place among the ranks of great cinematic romances as well as the Greatest Films of All Time. Problems with its male lead’s characterizations have been fixed in later iterations, but none have quite been able to match the originality and emotional depth of character of this film. This film is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video or Paramount Plus for any who are interested. Check it out.