Love Actually is a 2003 British 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. The ensemble cast is composed predominantly of British actors.

Set in London, the film 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[link]

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[link]

With the help of his longtime manager Joe (Gregor Fisher), aging 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 recognizes that Joe is the love of his life and suggests that he and Joe celebrate Christmas by getting drunk and watching porn.

Juliet, Peter and Mark[link]

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. The video Mark recorded reveals that he is secretly in love with Juliet, which she realizes when she barges into his studio and watches it. Juliet thought he didn't like her because he never talked to her, avoided her, and generally behaved distant and uncomfortable towards her. He blurts out that he acts that way because of 'self-preservation', and she finally realizes 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. Mark takes a moment to truly confess his love for Juliet, and Juliet acknowledges him by giving him a kiss.

Jamie and Aurélia[link]

Writer Jamie (Colin Firth) first appears preparing to attend Juliet and Peter's wedding. His girlfriend (Sienna Guillory) misses the ceremony to sleep with his brother. Crushed by this, Jamie retires to his French cottage where he meets Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia (Lúcia Moniz), who speaks only her native tongue. There is an instant attraction between the two. When Jamie returns to England he realises he is in love with Aurélia. In the following times, Jamie learns Portuguese and goes back to propose to her. When he does propose to her she says yes, and it is revealed that she has been learning English to communicate with Jamie.

Harry, Karen and Mia[link]

Harry (Alan Rickman) is the managing director of a design agency; Mia (Heike Makatsch) is his new secretary. For Christmas he buys her an expensive necklace from jewelery salesman Rufus (Rowan Atkinson), who elaborately wraps while Harry becomes increasingly nervous with the fear of detection. Meanwhile, Harry's wife Karen (Emma Thompson) is busy dealing with their children, Daisy (Lulu Popplewell) and Bernard (William Wadham), who are appearing in the school Nativity play. She voices her fears about Harry to her brother David (Hugh Grant), who just became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and her friend Daniel (Liam Neeson), who has just lost his wife. Karen discovers the necklace in Harry's coat pocket and initially assumes it is a gift for her; she later confronts Harry over the necklace and he admits his foolishness.

David and Natalie[link]

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) attempting to seduce 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. He eventually finds Natalie at her family's home, seeing that they are on the way 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[link]

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 famously lusts after supermodel Claudia Schiffer, meets the parent of another of Sam's school mates, Carol (Claudia Schiffer), who is a dead-ringer of Ms. Schiffer.

Sarah, Karl and Michael[link]

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

Colin, Tony and the American girls[link]

After several blunders attempting to woo various English women, including Nancy (Julia Davis), the caterer at Juliet and Peter's wedding, as well as Mia, Colin Frissell (Kris Marshall) informs his friend Tony (Abdul Salis) he plans to go to the US 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[link]

John (Martin Freeman) and Judy (Joanna Page), meet as body doubles for the sex scenes in a film where 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; they carefully pursue a relationship, and see the play (same one as David & Natalie, Harry & Karen, Daniel & Sam, et. al.) at the local school together with John's brother.

Rufus[link]

Rufus is a minor, but significant, character played by Rowan Atkinson, the jewellery salesman whose obsessive attention to gift-wrapping nearly gets Harry caught by Karen buying Mia's necklace. 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 it was dropped from the final script.

Epilogue[link]

In the epilogue set one month later, the film's characters are seen to be in relationships: love, actually. However, two of the relationships are not romantic - those of rock star Billy Mack and his manager Joe and of long-suffering Sarah and her institutionalized brother Michael. Billy arrives with a gorgeous groupie in tow to be greeted by Joe and indicating that his comeback has remained successful. Juliet, Peter, and Mark come to meet Jamie and his new bride Aurelia, showing both that they have married and that Mark is learning to cope better with the romantic triangle. Karen and the kids greet a returning Harry confirming that they have survived their relationship crisis and reconciled. Sam greets Joanna who has returned with her mother from the US as Daniel looks on, joined by his new girlfriend Carol and her son. John and Judy run into Tony, who is there to meet Colin on his return from the US; they are shown to be just married and off to their honeymoon. Colin returns with the gorgeous Harriet in tow, and Harriet's younger sister Carla (Denise Richards) and Tony are immediately struck by each other. Natalie is seen welcoming David back in front of press cameras, indicating that their relationship is now public. These scenes dissolve into live-footage of actual arrivals at Heathrow Airport, which divide the screen and eventually form a heart as The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" plays on.

Links[link]

Interconnections between the Love Actually characters

Each story is linked in some way except for Billy Mack and his manager, who are not friends with any of the characters; however, he appears frequently on characters' radios and TVs; his music video provides 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 works at 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.

Cast[link]

Title[link]

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[link]

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^[2] and $59,472,278 in the US and Canada. It took a worldwide total of $247,472,278.^[3]

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.

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.^[4]

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 waiting for 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.

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.^[5][6][7] In 2009, during President Barack Obama's first visit to the UK, Chris Matthews referred to the president in Love Actually as an exemplar 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".^[8] In the scene in question, the swaggering president bullies the prime minister and then tries to seduce the P.M.'s household staff.

Soundtrack[link]

The film's original music was composed, orchestrated, and conducted by Craig Armstrong.

The soundtrack album reached the Top 40 of the US Billboard 200 in 2004 and ranked No. 2 on the soundtrack album chart. It also achieved gold record status in Australia and Mexico.

Songs heard on the soundtrack include:

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

Songs in director's cuts:

• "Joanna" by Scott Walker

The UK release of the soundtrack features an additional score tracks by Craig Armstrong: "Prime Minister's Love Theme"; "Glasgow Love Theme"; and "Portuguese Love Theme". It also features "Sometimes" performed by Gabrielle.^[9] The US disc replaced the Girls Aloud version of "Jump (for My Love)" with the Pointer Sisters' original recording.

"All I Want for Christmas Is You" was written by Mariah Carey. It was performed by the actress who played Joanna, Olivia Olson, in the movie.

"All Alone on Christmas" by Darlene Love was played in the movie.

When Colin enters his first bar in Wisconsin, "Smooth" by Santana (featuring Rob Thomas) is playing.

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 heard in the film.

Alternative songs in UK vs. US versions of the film[link]

While the original US DVD released in 2004 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment #23293) contained the American cut of the film, the 2009 US Blu-ray release (Universal Studios Home Entertainment #61107958) actually contains the UK theatrical cut of the film. That cut features two alternative music placements. Kelly Clarkson's "The Trouble With Love Is" is replaced with "Too Lost in You" by Sugababes in the montage leading up to and continuing through the first part of the office party. A cover of "Jump (for My Love)" by Girls Aloud then replaces the Sugababes song as the second song in the end credit roll.

Reception[link]

Upon its release, the film received generally positive reviews in Britain, although Will Self's review was vociferously contemptuous, saying Curtis' work (with reference in particular to the opening voiceover) was 'the most grotesque and sick manipulation of a cinema audience's feelings that I've ever seen since Leni von [sic] Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will'.^[10]

Reviews in the United States were mixed, with the film receiving an average rating of 55 out of 100 on Metacritic and 63% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. 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 – 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."^[11]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3½ 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."^[12]

Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today stated "Curtis' multi-tiered cake of comedy, slathered in eye-candy icing and set mostly in London at Christmas, serves sundry slices of love—sad, sweet and silly—in all of their messy, often surprising, glory."^[13]

Carla Meyer of the San Francisco Chronicle opined "[it] abandons any pretext of sophistication for gloppy sentimentality, sugary pop songs and bawdy humour – 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."^[14]

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."^[15]

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."^[16]

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."^[17]

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".^[18]

Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice called it "love British style, handicapped slightly by corny circumstance and populated by colourful neurotics".^[19]

Awards and nominations[link]

• 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)

References[link]

External links[link]

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• BBC News report on the premiere

v t e Richard Curtis Screenplays The Tall Guy (1989) Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Bean (1997) Notting Hill (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) Love Actually (2003) Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004) The Boat That Rocked (2009) War Horse (2011) Director Love Actually (2003) The Boat That Rocked (2009) Producer Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) Bean (1997) Notting Hill (1999) Sixty Six (2006) Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007) The Boat That Rocked (2009) Television Not the Nine O'Clock News (1979–1982) The Black Adder (1983) Spitting Image (1984–1985) Blackadder II (1986) Blackadder the Third (1987) Blackadder Goes Forth (1989) Mr. Bean (1990–1995) Bernard and the Genie (1991) The Vicar of Dibley (1994–2007) Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death (1999) Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999) The Girl in the Café (2005) Casualty (2007) The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (2008) Doctor Who: "Vincent and the Doctor" (2010) Other works Comic Relief The Atkinson People (1979) Dead on Time (1983) No Pressure (2010)