Love Actually
Love, Actually (2003)
If you’re anything like me this has been a staple of your Christmas for the past 17 years. In fact if you live in Britain and own a TV then it’s probably been a staple for you too whether you like or not. It’s been so present it almost feels like part of the family. And with family you can take the piss!
This is unapologetically Richard Curtis. So knowing this you either take it or leave it. No whinging that it doesn’t represent London in the 21st Century. Embrace his penchant for plummy voiced posh people. Marvel at their beautiful houses and enviable jobs. Clutch your pearls at how casually they swear in front of children. Have fun with it. How else do you justify having all your characters inexplicably at hand in the airport? Who cares! Furthermore, forgive me for flip-flopping between the names of the actors and their characters. At this point it doesn’t really matter does it?
It’s six weeks before Christmas and as each week counts down we follow the intertwining lives of a bunch of attractive Londoners with a poptastic playlist and a beautiful, yet emotionally manipulative score. At the risk of writing a yarn I’ll focus on a handful of these festive vignettes.
Hugh Grant is the Prime Minister and he falls in love with his gobshite tea lady Martine McCutcheon. We’re supposed to think she’s chubby (because we’re told it multiple times) but she’s actually a small porcelain doll. However I for one wouldn’t deny the world the excuse to hear Hugh saying “I beg your pardon” in utter disbelief at her dilemma.
Hugh’s sister is Emma Thompson. She’s married to Alan Rickman, and he’s a classic fool. He falls for the brazen charms of his snake-eyed assistant and buys her a £300 necklace whilst giving Emma a CD. I really hadn’t been a fan of Thompson before this film but, wow wee, she can swallow her feelings like no other. And as she smoothed out that bedding to Joni Mitchell she stole my heart forever.
Of the more frustrating storylines we have Laura Linney who turns down a night with a Brazilian demigod to be a good sibling. Frankly, this concept is alien to me. And, If you’ve recently enjoyed Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit you’d be forgiven for wondering if one of the characters is actually a child, standing on the shoulders of another child, wearing a long coat and a fake moustache. It’s actually the grown up drummer boy from Love, Actually. He survives an unconventional upbringing by Liam Neesan to learn his musical craft in a week. Crucially he also benefits from the poor security at Heathrow airport.
I’ve dined off my impression of Keira Knightley searching for her wedding tape for years. She is married off at seventeen (17!) and the beautiful and barely legal bride really wants that video. She crosses the boundaries of decency and discover’s Andrew Lincoln’s justified obsession with her flawless face. It’s a perfect scene and it also provides us with the iconic follow up of Lincoln brandishing the infamous signs at her front door. It’s lovely. And then she kisses him on the lips while her new husband is only metres away. But it’s ok. Honestly, all the rules are out the window and everything’s ok.
Finally we have Colin Firth and Aurelia. The sweetest of all the stories. Colin flees his cheating Mrs to France, to work on his novel. He meets a new housekeeper who thinks she can salvage sheets of paper from a pond. Without so much as a word understood between them (except perhaps “crim”) they fall in love. As a comedy writer this is where Curtis really shines. I still find their misunderstandings hilarious. Pure joy. And their reunion will make you believe in love again.
10 Enough. Enough, now. Thumbs Up!
