Love Actually

Love Actually is a 2003 British Christmas-themed romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. The screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as their tales progress.

Set primarily in London, the story begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place one month later.

Plot

The film begins with a voiceover from David (Hugh Grant) commenting that whenever he gets gloomy with the state of the world he thinks about the arrivals terminal at Heathrow Airport, and the pure uncomplicated love felt as friends and families welcome their arriving loved ones. David's voiceover also relates that all the messages left by the people who died on the 9/11 planes were messages of love and not hate. The film then tells the 'love stories' of many people:

Billy Mack and Joe

With the help of his longtime manager Joe (Gregor Fisher), ageing rock and roll legend Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) records a Christmas variation of The Troggs' classic hit "Love Is All Around". Although he thinks the record is terrible, Mack promotes the release in the hope it will become the Christmas number one single. The song does go to number one; after briefly celebrating his victory at a party hosted by Sir Elton John, Billy recognises that Joe needs affection and suggests that he and Joe celebrate Christmas by getting drunk and watching porn.

Juliet, Peter, and Mark

Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) are wed in a lovely ceremony orchestrated and videotaped by Mark (Andrew Lincoln), Peter's best friend and best man. One day Juliet arrives unexpectedly at Mark's apartment and watches his video, discovering that the footage is entirely of her. This confuses Juliet, who thought Mark didn't like her: He never talked to her, avoided her, and was generally distant and uncomfortable around her. He blurts out that he acts that way for 'self-preservation', and she finally realises that he's always been head over heels for her, but has kept it to himself out of respect for her and Peter's relationship. At Christmas Mark takes a moment to truly confess his unrequited love for Juliet, silently displaying large white cue cards for her to read. Juliet acknowledges his confession by giving him a kiss. Afterwards, Mark decides to set aside his infatuation and move on.

Jamie and Aurélia

Writer Jamie (Colin Firth) prepares to attend the wedding of Juliet and Peter while his girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) misses the ceremony to have sex with his brother. Crushed by this, Jamie withdraws to his French cottage where he meets Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz) who speaks only her native tongue. Despite their inability to communicate, they have similar personalities and become attached to each other. When Jamie returns to England, he realises he is in love with Aurélia and begins learning Portuguese. He returns to France to find her, and proposes to her in imperfect Portuguese. She responds, "Yes," as she has been learning English.

Harry, Karen, and Mia

Harry (Alan Rickman) is the managing director of a design agency; Mia (Heike Makatsch) is his new secretary. Harry is comfortably married to his wife, Karen (Emma Thompson), who stays home to raise their children. When Mia becomes more aggressive in expressing her romantic interest in him, Harry becomes intrigued. For Christmas he buys her an expensive necklace from jewellery salesman Rufus (Rowan Atkinson), who elaborately wraps it while Harry nervously anticipates discovery by Karen. Karen discovers the necklace in Harry's coat pocket and assumes it is a gift for her; when he gives her a music CD instead, she intuits that the more glamorous gift was for Mia, and confronts Harry. He admits his foolishness, but she confides that his actions have made a mockery of their marriage.

David and Natalie

Karen's brother, David (Hugh Grant), is the recently elected Prime Minister. Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) is a new junior member of the household staff at 10 Downing Street and serves his tea and biscuits. Something seems to click between them. David walks in to find the U.S. President (Billy Bob Thornton) sexually harassing Natalie, which inspires him to take a stand against the bullying President's policies. Finding that his relationship with Natalie has become strained, David has her moved to another job, but later comes across a Christmas card from Natalie ending with a declaration of her love for him. After a door to door search of her street, Mia tells him Natalie lives next door, he discovers she is going with family to the local school for the nativity play (the same one in which his niece and nephew are appearing). He drives her family to the play, and the two watch the show from backstage, their budding relationship exposed when a curtain is raised on them kissing at the end of the pageant's big finale.

Daniel, Sam, Joanna, and Carol

Daniel (Liam Neeson), Karen's friend, and his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster) fend for themselves as they mourn the loss of their wife and mother, Joanna. Sam has fallen for American classmate, also named Joanna (Olivia Olson), and, after discussion with his stepfather, decides to learn the drums so that he can accompany her in the big finale for their school's Christmas pageant (the same one that Natalie's nephew and Karen and Harry's children are in). After Sam feels that he missed his chance to make an impression on her, Daniel convinces Sam that he must go catch Joanna, who is returning to the US, at the airport that night and show her how he feels, lest he regret it for his whole life. Sam runs away from the airport security and says hi to Joanna, who then kisses him on the cheek. Meanwhile, Daniel, who previously mentioned admiring supermodel Claudia Schiffer, meets Carol, played by Schiffer, the parent of another of Sam's school mates.

Sarah, Karl, and Michael

Sarah (Laura Linney) first appears at Juliet and Peter's wedding, sitting next to her friend Jamie. She works at Harry's graphic design company and has been in love for years with the company's creative director, Karl (Rodrigo Santoro). A tryst between Karl and Sarah is interrupted by phone calls from her brother, Michael, from the mental care facility where he lives. This effectively ends their relationship. On Christmas Eve, she visits her brother at the institution, wrapping a scarf around him as he hugs her.

Colin, Tony, and the American girls

After several blunders attempting to woo various English women, including Mia and Nancy (Julia Davis), the caterer at Juliet and Peter's wedding, Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) informs his friend Tony (Abdul Salis) he plans to go to America and find love there, convinced that his Britishness will be an asset to him in a foreign country. Landing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Colin meets Stacey (Ivana Miličević), Jeannie (January Jones), and Carol-Anne (Elisha Cuthbert), three stunningly attractive women who fall for his Basildon accent and invite him to stay at their home, where they are joined by roommate Harriet (Shannon Elizabeth).

John and Judy

John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page) are professional body doubles for films. They meet for the sex scenes in a film for which Tony is a production assistant. John tells Judy that "It is nice to have someone [he] can just chat to." While the two are perfectly comfortable being naked and simulating sex on-set, they are shy and tentative off-set. Carefully pursuing a relationship, they attend the Christmas pageant (involving David and Natalie, Harry and Karen's children, Daniel and Sam, et al.) at the local school with John's brother.

Rufus

Rufus, played by Rowan Atkinson, is the jewellery salesman, whose obsessive attention to gift-wrapping nearly results in Harry being caught buying a necklace for Mia by Karen. Also, it is his distraction of staff at the airport which allows Sam to sneak through to see Joanna. In the director and cast commentary, it is revealed that Rufus was originally supposed to be a Christmas angel; however, this was dropped from the final script.

Epilogue

The epilogue is set one month later; the relationships of the characters have continued to evolve. Billy arrives with a gorgeous groupie in tow, and confirms to Joe that his hit song has launched his successful comeback. Juliet, Peter, and Mark arrive together to meet Jamie and his new bride Aurélia. Karen and the kids greet Harry, but Karen's reaction suggests that they are struggling to move past his indiscretion. Sam greets Joanna, who has returned with her mother from America, and Daniel is joined by his new girlfriend Carol and her son. Newlyweds John and Judy, heading off to their honeymoon, run into Tony who is awaiting Colin as he returns from America. Colin returns with the gorgeous Harriet and her sister Carla (Denise Richards) who greets Tony with a hug and a kiss. Natalie aggressively welcomes David back from his flight in view of the press, indicating that their relationship is now public. These scenes dissolve into footage of actual arrivals at Heathrow Airport, as the screen is divided into an increasing number of smaller segments which form the shape of a heart, as The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" plays on.

Links

Each story is linked in some way except for Billy Mack and his manager, who are not friends with any of the characters, but Billy appears frequently on characters' radios and TVs, his music video twice providing an important plot device for Sam's pursuit of Joanna; the pair also cross paths with the other characters in the closing Heathrow scene. John and Judy work with Tony who is best friends with Colin who works for a catering company that services the office where Sarah, Karl, Mia, and Harry work and also catered Peter and Juliet's wedding. Mia is friends with Mark who runs the art gallery where the Christmas office party takes place. Mia also lives next door to Natalie. Mark is in love with Juliet and friends with Peter. The couple are friends with Jamie and Sarah. Harry is married to Karen who is friends with Daniel, and Karen's brother is David who works with Natalie. Harry and Karen's children (and thus David's niece and nephew), Natalie's siblings (and thus Mia's neighbours), and Carol's son are all schoolmates of Sam and Joanna. An additional plot that was dropped in editing concerned the children's headmistress and her dying lesbian partner.

Cast

Title

The title, Love Actually, was intended by Curtis as an abbreviated version of the statement "Love Actually Is All Around", a reference to the mega-hit pop song "Love Is All Around", performed by Wet Wet Wet in Curtis's breakthrough film Four Weddings and a Funeral. The song is also parodied as "Christmas Is All Around" throughout Love Actually.

Production

Most of the movie was filmed on location in London, at sites including Trafalgar Square, the central court of Somerset House in the Strand, Grosvenor Chapel on South Audley Street near Hyde Park, St. Paul's Clapham on Rectory Grove, Clapham in the London Borough of Lambeth, the Millennium Bridge, Selfridges department store on Oxford Street, Lambeth Bridge, the Tate Modern in the former Bankside Power Station, Canary Wharf, Marble Arch, the St. Lukes Mews off All Saint's Road in Notting Hill, Chelsea Bridge, the OXO Tower, London City Hall, Poplar Road in Herne Hill in the London Borough of Lambeth, Elliott School in Pullman Gardens, Putney in the London Borough of Wandsworth, and London Heathrow Airport. Additional scenes were filmed at the Marseille Airport and Le Bar de la Marine. Scenes set in 10 Downing Street were filmed at the Shepperton Studios.

Ant and Dec played themselves in the film (in which Bill Nighy's character referred to Dec as "Ant or Dec"). This refers to the common mistaking of one for the other, owing to their constant joint professional presence as a comedy and presenting duo. Veteran actress Jeanne Moreau is seen briefly, entering a taxi at the Marseille Airport. Soul singer Ruby Turner appears as Joanna Anderson's mother, one of the backup singers at the school Christmas pageant.

Curtis' original concept for the film included 14 different scenarios, but four of them were cut (two after having been filmed). The scene in which Colin attempts to chat up the female caterer at the wedding appeared in drafts of the screenplay for Four Weddings and a Funeral, but was cut from the final version. The Music Video for Billy Mack's Song, "Love Is All Around", is a tribute to Robert Palmer's video, "Addicted To Love". After the resignation of PM Tony Blair, pundits and speculators referred to a potential anti-American shift in Gordon Brown's cabinet as a "Love Actually moment," referring to the scene in which Hugh Grant's character stands up to the American president. In 2009, during President Barack Obama's first visit to the UK, Chris Matthews referred to the president in Love Actually as an example of George W. Bush and other former presidents' bullying of European allies. In commenting on Matthews' view, Mediaite's Jon Bershad described the U.S. president character as a "sleazy Bill Clinton/George W. Bush hybrid". In the scene in question, the swaggering president bullies the prime minister and then sexually harasses a member of the P.M.'s household staff. In September 2013, David Cameron made a speech in reply to Russia's comment that Britain was a small insignificant country which drew comparisons with Hugh Grant's speech during the film.

Soundtrack

The film's original music was composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Craig Armstrong. The soundtrack album reached the top 40 on the US Billboard 200 in 2004 and ranked second on the Top Soundtracks chart. It also achieved gold record status in Australia and Mexico.

Track listing

1. "The Trouble with Love Is" by Kelly Clarkson
2. "Here with Me" by Dido
3. "Sweetest Goodbye/Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5
4. "Turn Me On" by Norah Jones
5. "Take Me As I Am" by Wyclef Jean and Sharissa
6. "Songbird" by Eva Cassidy
7. "Wherever You Will Go" by The Calling
8. "Jump (for My Love)" by The Pointer Sisters in US / Girls Aloud in UK
9. "Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell
10. "All You Need Is Love" by Lynden David Hall
11. "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
12. "I'll See It Through" by Texas
13. "Too Lost in You" by Sugababes
14. "White Christmas" by Otis Redding

The film's director's cut also includes "Joanna" by Scott Walker. The UK release of the soundtrack features additional tracks by Craig Armstrong: "Prime Minister's Love Theme"; "Glasgow Love Theme"; and "Portuguese Love Theme". It also features "Sometimes" performed by Gabrielle. The US disc replaced the Girls Aloud version of "Jump (for My Love)" with the Pointer Sisters' original recording. Additional songs heard in the film include Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You", as performed by actress Olivia Olson, "All Alone on Christmas" and "Smooth" by Santana. Although they were not included on the soundtrack album, the Paul Anka song "Puppy Love" performed by S Club Juniors, and "Bye Bye Baby" by the Bay City Rollers, are also heard in the film.

Also, the UK and US theatrical cut of the film contain two instances of alternate music. In the UK cut, the montage leading up to and continuing through the first part of the office party is set to the song "Too Lost in You", by the UK group Sugababes. In the US version of the film, this song is replaced with "The Trouble With Love Is", performed by American singer Kelly Clarkson. In the UK cut's end credit roll, the second song is a cover of "Jump (for My Love)", performed by Girls Aloud. In the US version, this song is replaced with "Too Lost in You", by Sugababes.

Reception

Box office

The Working Title Films production, budgeted at $45,000,000, was released by Universal Pictures. It grossed $62,671,632 in the United Kingdom, $13,956,093 in Australia and $59,472,278 in the US and Canada. It took a worldwide total of $247,472,278.

Critical response

While Love Actually received generally positive reviews in Britain, United States reviews were generally mixed. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 63% of critics gave the film a positive rating, based on 191 reviews, with an average score of 6.4/10. Its consensus states "'A sugary tale overstuffed with too many stories. Still, the cast charms." On Metacritic the film holds a 55/100 rating, based on 41 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". In 2013, the movie was analysed on whether the movie was a modern day Christmas classic.

Todd McCarthy of Variety called it "a roundly entertaining romantic comedy," a "doggedly cheery confection," and "a package that feels as luxuriously appointed and expertly tooled as a Rolls-Royce" and predicted "its cheeky wit, impossibly attractive cast, and sure-handed professionalism... along with its all-encompassing romanticism should make this a highly popular early holiday attraction for adults on both sides of the pond". Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice called it "love British style, handicapped slightly by corny circumstance and populated by colourful neurotics". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 ¹â„₂ out of 4 stars, describing it as "a belly-flop into the sea of romantic comedy [...] The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs, until at times Curtis seems to be working from a checklist of obligatory movie love situations and doesn't want to leave anything out [...] It feels a little like a gourmet meal that turns into a hot-dog eating contest." Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today wrote "Curtis' multi-tiered cake of comedy, slathered in eye-candy icing and set mostly in London at Christmas, serves sundry slices of loveâ€"sad, sweet and sillyâ€"in all of their messy, often surprising, glory."

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated it B and called it "a toasty, star-packed ensemble comedy... [That's] going to make a lot of holiday romantics feel very, very good; watching it; I felt cosy and charmed myself." Nev Pierce of the BBC awarded it four of a possible five stars and called it a "vibrant romantic comedy... Warm, bittersweet and hilarious, this is lovely, actually. Prepare to be smitten." Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle opined "[it] abandons any pretext of sophistication for gloppy sentimentality, sugary pop songs and bawdy humour â€" an approach that works about half the time [...] Most of the story lines maintain interest because of the fine cast and general goodwill of the picture."

In his review in the New York Times, A.O. Scott called it "a romantic comedy swollen to the length of an Oscar-trawling epic â€" nearly two and a quarter hours of cheekiness, diffidence and high-tone smirking" and added, "it is more like a record label's greatest-hits compilation or a very special sitcom clip-reel show than an actual movie [...] The film's governing idea of love is both shallow and dishonest, and its sweet, chipper demeanour masks a sour cynicism about human emotions that is all the more sleazy for remaining unacknowledged. It has the calloused, leering soul of an early-60s rat-pack comedy, but without the suave, seductive bravado." In Rolling Stone, Peter Travers rated it two stars out of a possible four, saying "there are laughs laced with feeling here, but the deft screenwriter Richard Curtis dilutes the impact by tossing in more and more stories. As a director... Curtis can't seem to rein in his writer... He ladles sugar over the eager-to-please Love Actually to make it go down easy, forgetting that sometimes it just makes you gag."

Christopher Orr of The Atlantic described Love Actually as the least romantic movie of all time.

Awards and nominations

• Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film (nominee)
• BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Bill Nighy, winner)
• BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Emma Thompson, nominee)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy (nominee)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay (nominee)
• Empire Award for Best British Film (winner)
• Empire Award for Best British Actress (Emma Thompson, winner)
• Empire Award for Best Newcomer (Martine McCutcheon, winner)
• Empire Award for Best Newcomer (Andrew Lincoln, nominee)
• Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress (Emma Thompson, winner)
• Evening Standard Peter Sellers Award for Comedy (Bill Nighy, winner)
• European Film Award for Best Actor (Hugh Grant, nominee)
• European Film Award for Best Director (Richard Curtis, nominee)
• London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Supporting Actor (Bill Nighy, winner)
• London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Supporting Actress (Emma Thompson, winner)
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor (Bill Nighy, winner)
• Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actor, Musical or Comedy (Bill Nighy and Thomas Sangster, nominees)
• Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress, Musical or Comedy (Emma Thompson, nominee)

See also

• It All Began When I Met You, a 2013 Japanese film inspired by Love Actually
• Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love, a Hindi movie detectably based on Love Actually
• Letters to Santa, a Polish film inspired by Love Actually

References

External links

• Quotations related to Love Actually at Wikiquote
• Media related to Love Actually at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Love Actually at the Internet Movie Database
• Love Actually at Box Office Mojo
• Love Actually at Rotten Tomatoes
• BBC News report on the premiere