Autumn in New York (2000)

Romantic drama about an aging playboy who falls for a sweet, but terminally ill, young woman.

Director:

Joan Chen

Writer:

Allison Burnett

Stars:

Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, Anthony LaPaglia

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Gere	...	Will Keane
Winona Ryder	...	Charlotte Fielding
Anthony LaPaglia	...	John
Elaine Stritch	...	Dolly
Vera Farmiga	...	Lisa Tyler
Sherry Stringfield	...	Sarah
Jill Hennessy	...	Lynn McCale
J.K. Simmons	...	Dr. Tom Grandy
Sam Trammell	...	Simon
Mary Beth Hurt	...	Dr. Sibley
Kali Rocha	...	Shannon
Steven Randazzo	...	Alberto
Toby Poser	...	Autumn Woman #1
George Spielvogel III	...	Netto
Ranjit Chowdhry	...	Fakir

Storyline

Forty-eight year old Will Keane is a successful restaurateur and serial womanizer, his reputation generally preceding him. When he is introduced to twenty-two year old Charlotte Fielding by Charlotte's grandmother, Will's old friend Dolly who he has not seen in years, there is a mutual but slow to acknowledge attraction. After their first date, Will and Charlotte agree that their relationship will never progress to one of a long term standing, but for different reasons: while this is Will's somewhat standard modus operandi, Charlotte announces that she has a terminal heart condition. Charlotte's admission makes Will look at this relationship differently, he being told by his best friend John that if he is going to continue to date Charlotte that he better treat her well. Their relationship does end up being different than both expect, for Charlotte which could mean a change from her current "let me die in peace" attitude to want to fight for her life. And Will's time with Charlotte is...

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Plot Keywords:

f rated | female nudity | autumn | adultery | sex scene | 

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Taglines:

He fell in love for the first time... she fell in love forever.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language and some sensuality

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 August 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Otoño en Nueva York

Filming Locations:

Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,987,006, 13 August 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$37,761,915, 31 December 2000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$90,726,668, 31 December 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lakeshore Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first major Hollywood film to be helmed by a woman of Asian origin.

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Goofs

The story takes place in the autumn up to Christmas of the same year. Lisa's pregnancy doesn't show when she offers to help find a surgeon, but when the surgery takes place a few months later she appears ready to give birth.

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Quotes

Will: You think I'm too old for you?
Charlotte: Oh, no... I collect antiques, or I aspire to.
Will: Ouch.

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Connections

Spoofs Titanic (1997)

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Soundtracks

Bob Banana
Written by Dave Bronze and Josh Phillips
Courtesy of First Com Music

User Reviews

A nice surprise

Although a little boring at some points "Autumn In New York" managed to truly emotionally entertain and interest me. Even after seeing it I am still discovering the hidden meanings it tries to give us. Ironically despite being a romantic drama the romance between the main actors is the biggest downer of this movie. I must have missed the part when Winona Ryder's character's age is revealed, but she just doesn't pass as a 21 year old. I thought she was supposed to be like 26 or something. Not that there's a big difference in age, but she was a bit misscast, despite her child like face. On the other side she was really attractive in this movie and constantly reminded me of this cute girl I know. Gere looks and feels pretty old, but he's a believable 48 year old playboy. The movie is hence held together by good dialogues and nice and memorable scenes. There's also a great line Gere says to Winona after he cheats on her and realizes he screwed up: "Can you let me love you?" I've read some pretty different explanations of this movie, but basically I think it's about Gere's character slowly discovering he's been missing a great deal of life, he's never loved. So after "accidentally" falling in love with Charlotte he can't bear the though of her dying and tries everything in his power to prevent her death(this might have something to do with his previous life where he was always the one with power, whilst the women weren't). But he has to realize that in Charlotte's case he's completely powerless and there's where the point of the movie lies. He chose true love (despite knowing that Charlotte was going to die soon) over the life he thought he was happy with. It might sound ridiculous but I kind o envy the guy. I too would rather truly love a woman, if only for a short period of time, than spend a life with a woman I didn't love. I would be a happier man, even after that true love would, for some reason or another, leave me, because I'd know I loved, even if it didn't last. I was pretty surprised at most of the bad reviews and comments, but on the other side I couldn't help but to agree with most of them. It is a crude love story and it is somewhat predictable and boring, but it was overlooked for the most important reason it tries to tell us. Despite being an unconventional and hardly believable love story "Autumn In New York" is a movie that in the end managed to show me you have to take even the biggest sacrifices to find true love. Sad and Beautiful. 7/10