Love Actually (2003)

Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely and interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.

Director:

Richard Curtis

Writer:

Richard Curtis

Stars:

Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon

Nominated for 2 Golden Globes. Another 10 wins & 18 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bill Nighy	...	Billy Mack
Gregor Fisher	...	Joe
Rory MacGregor	...	Engineer
Colin Firth	...	Jamie
Sienna Guillory	...	Jamie's Girlfriend
Liam Neeson	...	Daniel
Emma Thompson	...	Karen
Lulu Popplewell	...	Daisy - Her Daughter
Kris Marshall	...	Colin Frissell
Heike Makatsch	...	Mia
Martin Freeman	...	John
Joanna Page	...	Just Judy
Chiwetel Ejiofor	...	Peter
Andrew Lincoln	...	Mark
Keira Knightley	...	Juliet

Storyline

The characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in the period of mourning; a capsule summary of reality. Love begins and love ends. They flirt a lot. They are all flirting with love. At all ages and social levels, love is the theme. Romantic love and brotherly love is the hotchpotch through out the movie. Most of the movie is filmed in London, during Christmas and the characters all ended up at Heathrow airport a very uplifting note.

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Plot Keywords:

love | christmas | friend | travel | minister | 

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Taglines:

All You Need Is Love

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality, nudity and language

Details

Official Sites:

Universal [us]

Country:

UK USA France

Language:

English Portuguese French

Release Date:

14 November 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Love Actually Is All Around

Filming Locations:

Aix-en-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Box Office

Budget:

£30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$647,984 (Japan) (6 February 2004)

Gross:

$5,010,288 (Japan) (5 March 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, StudioCanal, Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

135 min 129 min 129 min (Asian Edition)

Sound Mix:

DTS (as dts) Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The word "actually" is spoken twenty-two times by various characters in the film.

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Goofs

During the staff Christmas party, there is a slow song playing but people are dancing at a fast pace.

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Quotes

Juliet: [after watching Mark's video of her] But... you never talk to me. You always talk to Peter. You don't like me.
Mark: I hope it's useful. Don't show it around too much. It needs a bit of editing. Look, I've gotta get to a lunch. Early lunch. You can just show yourself out, can't you?
[pauses]
Mark: It's a... self-preservation thing, you see.

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Crazy Credits

Stacey, American Dreamgirl - Ivana Milicevic

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Connections

Referenced in Comic Relief Does University Challenge (2005)

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Soundtracks

"Take Me as I Am"
(2003)
By Wyclef Jean (as Jean) / Jerry 'Wonder' Duplessis (as Duplessis) / Sharissa (as Dawes)
Performed by Wyclef Jean featuring Sharissa
Courtesy of Clef Records and J Records
Sharissa appears courtesy of Henchman Entertainment/ Czar Enterntainment

User Reviews

A fabric woven of happy and sad threads

What I appreciated most about Love Actually was that for the most part, it realistically looks at relationships happy and sad, successful and unsuccessful, with a future and without. It addresses different forms and levels of love, sometimes straightforward and carefree, sometimes complex and contradictory. There are schmaltzy happy moments and touching sad ones, moments of great strength and moments of foolish weakness. The movie is made up of many threads, and of course some threads are stronger than others.

The most interesting parts of Love Actually are the times when it addresses the tragic situations where love is self-sacrificing, contradictory, or fragile. One character's unrequited love is revealed as a noble sacrifice made for another's happiness (the method of finally achieving closure and moving on, however, could only work in the movies). Another character is shown to be caught between conflicting duties that will, we are led to believe, prevent her from ever being truly happy. And the strength that a third shows when love is shown to be fragile and her world collapses around her is tragically inspiring.

These noble, tragic threads are interwoven with lighthearted comedic ones to produce a fabric that holds together well. While some characters have to fight for their love, others have simple, happy, straightforward relationships, with love (or whatever) falling in their laps like a parcel from Santa Claus. And the purely comic moments, like Rowan Atkinson's appearances and Hugh Grant's Christmas-caroling bodyguard, are delightful in and of themselves.

There are of course plenty of nits to pick. Hugh Grant doesn't make a very believable Prime Minister, and even his very pointed speech to his American counterpart -- especially relevant in light of Bush's recent state visit to England -- don't redeem the odd casting. Others in this forum have commented on the number of fat jokes in the film, and while I agree, I feel I should point out that the entire point of the first such joke is that the character who has fallen for the "fat" girl clearly doesn't think of her as fat, and doesn't understand at first who the other is talking about. It's true that calling her fat is ridiculous; she's only large in comparison to Keira Knightley, who must be carrying some vital organs around in her handbag because there's certainly not enough room in her torso! But that one time would have been enough; the "fat" theme gets tiresome later on in the movie. I also agree with those who have said that much of the nudity is completely unnecessary to the plot, and that at least some of the comedic threads in the movie are formulaic and unoriginal.

In the end, I feel that Love Actually is for the most part a thoughtful and entertaining look at relationships, which does not shy away from taking the bad with the good.