"But you've also made a fool out of me. You've made the life I lead foolish too"

[tiredvommachine]

I dislike the film but Emma Thompson is fantastic in it and what her character goes through resonates so strongly with what I'm having to deal with at the moment and it's heartbreaking. I wish I had an ounce of her on screen fortitude. Does that line pull at anyone else?

It grates on me. She says that - and then takes him back. What was the point?

As a screen line, it works great. Real life, it sounds what it is, empty and meaningless.

I'm so sorry that you're personally going through this though, tiredvommachine and, regardless of what I think, if that sentence empowers you/makes you feel just a bit better, then it's done something good.

I certainly don't agree with her actions at all but can see how she tries to keep the family together, even though her life will always be a bit shittier (paraphrasing!).
Thank you for your reply, just so very sad at the moment

It gets me every time. She's an amazing actress, she was great in Years and Years as well.

It's never really clear what happens at the end of the film, I always felt that she was staying 'for a while for the children' but it would never be the same and eventually she'd cut her losses.

What film are we talking about?

Are you talking about Love Actually?
I don't think she does take him back. She meets him at the airport and gives him an awkward cold kiss on the cheek as a 'hi, let's me nice for the kids' sort of way. That's how I always took it anyway!

Love Actually I think?

I was on a pensions webinar hosted by Richard Curtis lady week, he apologized for Bridget Jones two, said it should have been shorter and funnier. He also said he should not have cast Hugh Grant as often as he did. But sadly there was no apology for the cringe fest that is Love Actually!

*last, not lady

Oh it’s a dreadful film. I still love it though.

Yes, sorry. Love Actually. @Pulloutbed I think you're right and the awkwardness shines through, doesn't it? On a more cheerful note, I like her hair there

Yeah, I think she left him, she definitely meets him off the plane with a withering smile. Anyway, I'm not particularly impressed by her "dignified" approach - it's so wet and repressed.

Anyway, what's with her putting the phone down on her grieving brother because her kid was mithering her about the school play? Aibu would have her life.

I absolutely love it and I have no idea why! I think I fell in love with it as a teenager maybe and it's carried on since then. I know it's a pile of shit but I still watch it while wrapping presents every single year!

@Pulloutbed me too! It’s become my tradition!

I don't like the film but ET's performance in that was great and resonated with me so much when I found out about XHs cheating and how we had to 'carry on as normal for the kids' for a few weeks til his house was ready for him to move in to.

Hugs OP, what you are going through is shit but will be better soon

Oh I never took it as they stayed together! In my head they met at the airport to do handover with the kids as he sees them every now and then!

Me three @Pulloutbed

I think it's a great line. Despite the MN cry of LTB, it's not always that simple or easy. People do stay and work through affairs but it can be cold/fractured/awkward for a while.

@FourTeaFallOut He isn't her brother; they are friends. Sadly, everyone has their own life issues to deal with and whilst it may seem horribly sad for Liam Neeson to be left to deal with the death on his own, she has her own family to run and sometimes these things are just as important in the moment.

Im sure I saw an interview with ET and they we’re talking about whether she stays or not with her husband and she says not.
I also took the final scene at the airport being a about him turning up for contact with the DC, & they’re divorced.

I'm suggesting that she finish her conversation with her grieving friend (this actually makes more sense, I did wonder why Hugh Grant didn't give a shit about him 😁) before chatting to her kid about costumes. I'm not suggesting that she lets the kids go feral or, God forbid, let the laundry basket overflow. But this is a stealth Christmas thread, let's agree to disagree.

I don't think she does take him back, and I don't think he want to be taken back, in fact. She's taking the kids to meet him at the airport, that's all.

Emma T in this pierces my heart; in an otherwise naff film she is so fab.

Amazing actress and that line always brings tears to my eyes. It resonates very much so with what I went through with my now exh.

This is an awful film, but the bit when she’s crying in the bedroom is just so heartbreaking. Mine wasn’t exactly the same situation, but I know that feeling or slapping on a cheery smile when you just want to crawl under the duvet.

Hope you’re ok

It totally resonates with me. I can't watch the film anymore because of it.

She is absolutely superb, it's a refined performance when most of the film is hammed to the max and I love it. I watch it every year too and even though some other parts make me cringe, it's now a tradition that I cry at that bit! Can't help it.