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in: Films, 2003 films, Rated R films, 2.35:1 films

Love Actually

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Loveactually

Love Actually.

Love Actually is a 2003 romantic comedy by Richard Curtis.

Cast[]

Singing cast[]

  • Bill Nighy - Billy Mack
  • Hugh Grant - The Prime Minister
  • Andrew Tinker - Chauffeur
  • Olivia Olson - Joanna Anderson
  • Ruby Turner - Jean Anderson

Non-singing cast[]

Plot[]

The film begins with a voiceover from David, 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, ageing rock and roll legend Billy Mack 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 and Peter are wed in a lovely ceremony orchestrated and videotaped by Mark, 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 prepares to attend the wedding of Juliet and Peter while his girlfriend misses the ceremony to have sex with his brother. Crushed by this, Jamie withdraws to his French cottage where he meets Portuguese housekeeper Aurélia 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 is the managing director of a design agency; Mia is his new secretary. Harry is comfortably married to his wife, Karen, 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, 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, is the recently elected Prime Minister. Natalie 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 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, Karen's friend, and his stepson Sam fend for themselves as they mourn the loss of their wife and mother, Joanna. Sam has fallen for American classmate, also named Joanna, 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 herself), the parent of another of Sam's school mates.

Sarah, Karl, and Michael[]

Sarah 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. 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, the caterer at Juliet and Peter's wedding, Colin Frissell informs his friend Tony 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, Jeannie, and Carol-Anne, 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.

John and Judy[]

John and Judy 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.

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 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.

Musical numbers[]

  • "Love Is All Around" - Billy Mack
  • "Christmas Is All Around" - Billy Mack
  • "Good King Wenceslas" - Prime Minister and Chauffeur
  • "All I Want For Christmas" - Joanna, Jean, Teachers and Students
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