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Original poster

Love Actually - the film

88 replies

Chickenwings85 · 14/12/2018 23:50

I can't work out what happend between the woman who worked in the same office as the office tart and the guy she was in love with for 2 years so many hours and 30 minutes. It's the American/Canadian women with the brother in hospital. Did we know if her and her guy got together properly?

OP posts:

8DaysAWeek · 14/12/2018 23:51

My interpretation was no, they did not

AtrociousCircumstance · 14/12/2018 23:52

I think the implication is that she chose one kind of love, actually, over another - so selfless sibling love rather than romance with the hot man.

Heart breaking codependency really!

BikeRunSki · 14/12/2018 23:53

Yes, she always goes to her brother

Pomegranatemolasses · 14/12/2018 23:54

My understanding is that they never did - she was a classic enabler who destroyed her own life out of a misplaced sense of what she owed to her brother.

Caught a glimpse of it the other night and got frustrated all over again by her awful, self sabotaging life choices!

Safeandwarm · 14/12/2018 23:56

He’s a bit of a douche for leaving when she’s on the phone to her brother and they are trying to have a shag. He should’ve made a cup of tea and waited till the morning. She was better off without him.

He is extremely beautiful though.

alltoomuchrightnow · 14/12/2018 23:57

no, as I recall the director said she didn't, not all the stories had happy endings

Original poster

Chickenwings85 · 15/12/2018 00:02

I'm currently watching it and it made me wonder again for the 50th time.
Makes so much sense now how she picks family over her own happiness which is lovely but heartbreaking at the same time.

OP posts:

8DaysAWeek · 15/12/2018 00:05

safeandwarm I don't think he did leave? Well, it doesn't show that he left when she was on the phone. Think he just sits at the end of the bed.

JudasPrudy · 15/12/2018 00:05

It would need to be a serious emergency to drag me away from that guy she had pulled

Pomegranatemolasses · 15/12/2018 00:40

Makes so much sense now how she picks family over her own happiness which is lovely but heartbreaking at the same time.

Not lovely at all - just totally messed up.

GunpowderGelatine · 15/12/2018 00:43

I've lifted this from a fantastic article by Jezebel because it words it so well and why I personally hate this storyline in Love Actually.

Despite still never having had a conversation, Laura Linney finally gets Karl back to her house for intercourse. They get in the door go straight to the bed (wouldn’t want to wander into the living room and accidentally have a conversation), where we finally find out Laura Linney’s TERRIBLE SECRET.

She has a brother.

And he calls sometimes.

To be more specific, Laura Linney has a mentally ill brother who lives in a facility and calls her frequently for reassurance and comfort, and she always takes his calls because she loves him deeply and feels responsible for his well being now that their parents are dead.

Ugh, women with mentally ill brothers are such boner killers.

DEALBREAKER. Karl’s out.

I can’t believe Laura Linney showed her boobs for this

SleepWarrior · 15/12/2018 00:53

I think the love she has for her brother is lovely, and I like that they included it in the film. Why she has to use it as a reason to not be with the guys she likes is infuriating though - just explain to him and work around it. Self-sabotaging is spot on.

Yutes · 15/12/2018 00:54

Well....Karl is an ass about it
“Will it make him better?”
And then leaves while she’s on the phone with her brother.

GunpowderGelatine · 15/12/2018 01:00

I think the love for her brother was very poignant and they missed a massive opportunity with it. They basically used it as some sort of cock blocking storyline, rather than making Karl a decent guy who lets her answer her phone and accepts him as part of the package Laura Linney brings

8DaysAWeek · 15/12/2018 01:05

Again my interpretation was different. I reckon that she decided to end things with Karl before they even began because she felt (rightly or wrongly) she wouldn't be able to give him the time/affection expected from a partner in a relationship. She'll have felt torn and upset by his decision, but it's the one she had to make. I kind of see it that by answering the phone she made the decision that it wasn't going to work. Now I'm not saying that in a real life situation by answering the phone you'd be automatically dumping him or anything, and it would be the right thing to do in my opinion, but I mean symbolically for the purpose of the movie that's what I think happened.

GlitterPixie · 15/12/2018 01:06

That was the most depressing story arc in the film

GunpowderGelatine · 15/12/2018 01:11

He was bloody sexy wasn't he. I always feel like Laura Linney gets the raw end of the deal in anything she's in 🤣

sammylady37 · 15/12/2018 07:22

Can anyone tell me what’s the story with billy Mack and his manager? Is there a love story there, and if so is it a platonic friendship love or is billy actually gay and in love with him??? Can never figure it out.

LooksBetterWithAFilter · 15/12/2018 07:30

He didn’t leave while she was on the phone to her brother. He sits on the end of the bed and she says to her brother no she isn’t busy and yes if he wants her to come over she will when he calls the second time. I watched it yesterday.

The Billy Mac story is platonic love (I think) He’s spent his life being shallow and shagging any woman that will let him and this record was a way to get him back on the party scene but he realised he’d created a family of his own with his long-term manager and that there was at least one meaningful relationship in his life.

LEMtheoriginal · 15/12/2018 07:45

And did emma thompson fuck alan rickman off and reconcile or had he just been on a business trip?

user088 · 15/12/2018 08:19

@LEMtheoriginal I too want to know this!

Kemer2018 · 15/12/2018 08:25

It's crazy. Sex only takes 30 mins tops so she could've got the best of both worlds really.
An extra 30 mins wouldn't have made much difference.

AtrociousCircumstance · 15/12/2018 09:19

Kemer

It’s so unclear with Emma Thompson when she greets AR at the end of the film. It could be: awkward hello to person you have to co-parent with (and are trying not to despise), or awkward hello to the errant spouse you’re trying to rebuild things with, both knowing it will take a long time to get anywhere towards trust.

I hope it’s the first. Hope she dumped his arse.

sammylady37 · 15/12/2018 15:18

Ah Looksbetter, that makes sense, thanks! Has been bugging me since 2003!!

TSSDNCOP · 15/12/2018 15:24

Anyone that would stop sex with Karl for less than an attack if Ebola deserves everything comingvti them

Billy and his manager are that simplest of things; truly best friends

Emma’s character is going to live her life with it being just a little bit less rather than cut loose the spineless husband

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