Autumn in New York

Autumn in New York is a 2000 American romantic drama film directed by Joan Chen and starring Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, and Anthony LaPaglia. Written by Allison Burnett, the film follows a successful middle-aged restaurateur and womanizer who falls in love with a sweet young woman who is terminally ill. United States distributor MGM took over the film from Chen and significantly re-edited the film, which also involved deleting a Winona Ryder nude scene. The film received generally negative reviews, but was a moderate commercial success, grossing $100 million on a $65 million budget. Plot Will Keane is a successful restaurateur and womanizer. Free-spirited haberdasher Charlotte Fielding celebrates her birthday in his upscale restaurant, and he immediately notices her. Her grandmother introduces them. Will learns that Charlotte is the daughter of his ex-girlfriend Katy, who died in a car accident shortly after Charlotte's birth. The next day, Will calls and asks Charlotte to make a hat for his date for an upcoming benefit dinner. When she delivers the hat to his apartment a few days later, he invites her to accompany him to the formal benefit under the guise that he had been stood up. There they get to know each other and become lovers. The next morning, while having breakfast on his terrace, Will explains that their relationship has no future. She acknowledges this, revealing she is dying of a heart condition. The next day, they walk through the fall foliage in Central Park, and Charlotte takes Will's watch, saying she will return it when he forgets she has it. At his restaurant, they prepare a meal together for his staff, and he begins to fall in love. She has an episode of severe chest pain; Will rushes her to the hospital. The doctor explains that her neuroblastoma, a rare illness that few people have, has produced a tumor near her heart and that unfortunately, she has only one year to live.