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:

usa | united states | falling in love | new york city | terminal illness | 

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Taglines:

He taught her how to live. She taught him how to love.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language and some sensuality

Did You Know?

Trivia

Feature film debut of Daniella Van Graas and Rachel Nichols.

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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

John: Buddy, I hate to break it to you, but in the real world... where I live... there're only two kinds of love stories. Boy loses girl and girl loses boy. That's all there is. Somebody always gets left behind. You try to avoid that, you'll end up an old man toastin' yourself with egg nog in the mirror on Christmas Eve. You'll end up dying in your own arms.

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Connections

Referenced in White Studio: Alexander Tsekalo (2019)

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Soundtracks

Getting Some Fun Out of Life
Written by Joseph A. Burke and Edgar Leslie
Performed by Madeleine Peyroux
Courtesy of Atlantic Recording Corp.
By arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

Something to redress the balance !!

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.

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 August 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Autumn in New 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

Gross USA:

$37,761,915

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$90,726,668

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