It’s Love, Actually.
Here we go, starting with possibly THE no.1 Christmas movie. Well, besides The Holiday, Elf, How The Grinch Stole Christmas etc…you get my point here. It is possibly one of the best rom-com movies existing today. Yes, I’m talking about the same movie we all know and love in which Emma Thompson’s top notch acting makes you ball your eyes out and despise Professor Snape, whilst Keira Knightley is off cheating on her husband with the ‘carol singer’ outside. That’s the one. It’s Love Actually.
Let’s dive in.
Firstly, this movie is what I’d call a magical whirlwind (definitely recommend a tissue box and a glass of wine at the ready.) There are at least ten different stories to keep up within this film, all of which are unique and individual to each other but remain connected throughout.- Kudos writers.
To begin, we are introduced to the main relationships of the story: Mr. Dance-a-lot (Hugh Grant) and his secretary Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), Jamie (Colin Firth) and his Portuguese maid (Lúcia Moniz), Karen (Emma Thompson) and her husband (Alan Rickman), two randomly put together sex workers/actors (Martin Freeman and Joanna Page), Billy (Bill Nighy) and his manager Joe (Gregor Fisher), Juliet (Keira Knightley) and her husbands best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln) and a widower Daniel(Liam Neeson) and his lovestruck Son (Thomas Brodie-Sangster). There are a few more characters involved, however, I would class them as connectors to these relationships and not so much a part of the main plot line, but all great actors too of course. Overall, I have to say what a phenomenal cast choice for this film.
Now, the standout moment for me in this movie will always be THAT scene. If you’ve watched this movie before, you will probably know the one I mean. Where Alan Rickman chooses to gift his secretary at work, instead of his amazing wife, that damn necklace.
It wasn’t until this movie, that I truly understood the power of Emma Thompson’s acting and the intense emotion from her character in that scene. Having the Joni Mitchell CD her husband bought her lightly playing in the background, whilst she’s quietly sobbing and processing his deceit, then having the courage to get up and act like everything was okay in front of her children, just wow. It is an exceptional scene and an astounding piece of acting. Emma Thompson deserved an award for that scene alone. Then we have the scene later on of her confronting Rickman’s character about it, “Would you stay, knowing life would always be a little bit worse?”- what an absolute tear-jerker. Although, the only slight disappointment I do have with this part of the storyline, is that we never did find out if they reconcile. But I suppose if I could choose an ending, I would say she’s far better off without him anyway.
The comedy element to this movie is like most rom-coms of its time. The humor isn’t for everyone. I’ve read many a review stating how appalling it came across to some people, but how hilariously accurate it’s been to others. I say each to their own. Maybe some people didn’t like Bill Nighy’s witty humor or Hugh Grant’s amazing dance moves. I for one, was a big fan. The movie is pretty light-hearted overall too, which does make it an easy watch and understandably a film that is popular with families around the festive period. I mean everyone enjoys a happy ending, right?
The fact that this movie is also very open and honest about how relationships can be, is a big plus for me and I think that enticed me into watching it the whole way through. Admittedly no, it isn’t all that realistic in places and we don’t all tend to fall in love at first sight or decide to run to the airport to stop someone we love from leaving, but sometimes we crave that little bit of cheese in a movie to keep reality from being boring, and it certainly gave us that. Plus, for the most part, we are left with a large sense of truth into how love and relationships can be shared in different ways. (Even if the Prime minister was dating someone half his age and Keira Knightley’s character may have just ruined her marriage she’d only been in for less than a week.) But hey, I’m sure they would all claim it was done in love, actually.
-Not many negatives for this movie. 9.5/10
-Thank you for taking the time to read my review.
Elise.