Whilst everyone is naturally entitled to their own opinion, I was rather shocked to read the large number of negative comments about this film on the site. A redress is therefore more than necessary ! Compared to a lot of the violent rubbish we get in the cinema today, here is a film without violence, beautifully made, and concentrating on "L O V E ! " Naturally the story is all the more intense as we know that one of the protagonists's days are numbered, and why not indeed ? A parallel may be drawn with the film LOVE STORY but in AUTUMN IN NY, the dialogues are much less crude and closer to reality. The film is technically, plastically, very beautiful ( I m very sensitive to Autumn leaves ) and this film ranks with the best in the autumn ' genre ', ie, "All that Heaven allows", featuring Rock Hudson & Jane Wyman, and "The Trouble with Harry" by Alfred Hitchcock. Rarely is autumn sunlight put to such good use as in this film. The subtle autumn light of New York accompanies the autumn of Charlotte's own short life towards the winter's snow and her voyage into eternity. Too much emphasis is placed on the difference in age between the two protagonists as well as supposed flaws in their characters. Who cares ? Love is Love ! Why should't a play-boy discover true love ? I think it is wonderful. Let's face it, true love is the only thing in the whole wide world that all peoples can agree on ! This film is reminiscent of the great American weepies of the 40's such as Waterloo Bridge or Random Harvest, but with present-day film quality as an extra a bonus. Unfortunately, these kind of romantic melodramas seem to have lost favour with the public today, which is a great great shame, as romance and love are eternal themes which will never die. I think the film will stand the test of time and hopefully at a future time when violence and evil sentiment on the cinema screen will be less sought after than today will come onto its own. Indeed a second viewing of the film allowed me to appreciate even more the plastic beauty of the film which I missed the first time round as I was worried how it was going to end. In addition to that I was even more impresses the second time round by the performance to the two actors. So long live beauty and romance as portrayed in this film and let's hope there'll be more to come in the cinema of the future.
Review of Autumn in New York
