Richard Curtis makes his directorial debut with Love Actuallyand will hopefully pursue his new talent in many more movies tocome.
Curtis his written three landmarks in recent romantic comedy:Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’Diary.
For those who haven’t yet experienced love or haveforgotten what it feels like, Love Actually is a perfectintroduction or reminder. It starts with shots of ordinary peopleaffectionately greeting and tearfully seeing each other off at anairport. This opens the curtains for multiple love sequences whichare completely unrelated at first to weave together into oneincredible story.
If Hugh Grant has the leading role, that’s only becausehe’s given the most powerful position as the British primeminister. However, Grant certainly deserves that specialrecognition. He has got to the point in his career where simplylooking at him on the screen incites a smile.
The new bachelor prime minister is, in fact, the initiator oflove’s syndrome. While meeting his staff, four weeks beforeChristmas, he falls for Natalie, the tea girl (Martine McCutcheon),whose boyfriend has dumped her for having “thighs the size oftree trunks.” Then he says, “Love actually is allaround.”
Indeed, from this rather unexpected-to-work-out relationship,love’s spell falls on many more lives. Colin Firth’sJamie, a writer, escapes to the south of France to appease hisbroken heart to find new love. Emma Thompson’s Karen, acomfortably married woman, finds out on Christmas Eve that herhusband, Harry (Alan Rickman), bought a gold necklace for hissecretary.
A new bride (Keira Knightley) discovers that the distance of herhusband’s (Andrew Lincoln) best friend is really not meant tobe, and a widowed stepfather (Liam Neeson) tries to connect with ason, who is longing for a girl from school. And the spell goeson.
What’s remarkable about those dramatic and comicsituations is they represent the many sides of love and make youshare and feel the characters’ emotions. Identification withthe characters’ emotions would not have been possible withoutthe quality cast.
Thompson is truly touching in the scene when Karen discovers herhusband’s affair.
Grant’s prime minister is both funny and sincere when hedances around his office, thinking that no one is looking. Or whenhe drives to a working-class neighborhood, inside a Jaguar, tosearch for Natalie, who lives with her parents. The contrast ishuge and so are the emotions when both characters meet.
A quite interesting part of the story involves Anglo-Americanrelations, symbolized by the visit to England of the Americanpresident (Billy Bob Thornton). Shortly before bothcountries’ leaders make a speech, the prime minister catchesthe U.S. president flirting with the attractive tea girl. Badtiming. After the president informs the British that America isbetter and stronger than they are, and says, “I’ll giveyou anything you ask for, as long as it’s not something Idon’t want to give,” Hugh Grant’s prime minister,a sort of hipper and more handsome Tony Blair, responds with apatriotic and well-received speech. He says, “We may be asmall country but a great one. The country of Shakespeare, SeanConnery, Harry Potter…”
Even the confrontation scene adds love for a country to thelist.
A comical figure, Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) wraps up love as aChristmas package for adults only. Mack is an aging rock star, whorecords a cynical Christmas version of one of his old hits”Love is All Around.” He appears in many scenesthroughout the movie, either using vulgar language in public, or inhis song’s video, which is quite bold sexually. Mack createsa musical connection, rather comic, between love and Christmas; nowlove is what all the characters experience one way or another, andChristmas is the time period bringing up the emotions.
The end is happy. All the lovely, now lovable and most of thempaired, characters find themselves at Heathrow Airport, greetingone another after returning from trips, curing frustrated hearts orgoing on a variety of honeymoons. Wherever they head to, love isthe ultimate destination.
Love Actually promotes true love and conveys in less than twohours the many mixed feelings such a powerful abstract termincites.
Watch out, love is everywhere.
