To always cry at the Emma Thompson bits in Love Actually?

[summerbreezer]

Against my will, I've been forced to watch LA this evening. I find this film to be cheesy and irritating..apart from her part.

The bit where she is standing in her room after discovering that her husband has another woman. OMG. Wonderful film making.

It is a good 30 - 40 seconds of watching a woman do nothing, and yet it so beautifully charged with emotion. She blinks back her tears so her children don't see her cry. She goes to straighten the duvet as if it is a reflex action.

Then later on she tells Alan Rickman he has made "the life I lead seem foolish too". So lovely, so dignified. I also like the fact he doesn't get as far as having a physical affair, but that doesn't matter. The damage is done.

Gives me goosebumps.

Oh thebody when Barbara is doing Nanna's hair is a total bloody blub fest for me.

'Thank you Barbara'.

Interesting - I don't find her smug and worthy at all. I think the absolute joy of ET's portrayal is that we all know that woman. She is our mother, our sister, our friend. I definitely see a part of me in her.

So when she is hurt we feel it. Hurt by an unthinking, selfish man flattered by the shallow attentions of a younger woman. Her life dreams, modest in today's x factor like world, thrown to the dogs in an instant.

But she survives because she has to. Her children come first.

I also love the bit in LA where Emma Thomson runs into her brother (Hugh Grant) at the school play-the way she hugs him a second longer than normal shows powerfully the pain she's going through, and her need for comfort.

totally squoosh.

Lucamom when my dsis found out her husband was leaving her she hugged our dad really hard but didn't tell him until the next day. he knew something was wrong as she isn't like this.

the scenes are very sad and true to life. Emma is fantastic.

Oh, thank god Onsesleep, I thought I was alone. Emma Thomson's character always seemed such a sexless, joyless, NCT frump, I could never really judge sexy Alan for playing away - I thought I was the only one that felt that way.

Seriously, A-line tweed, flat shoes & obsessing over your child's part in the school play? Alan was well out of it, if you ask me.

Spot on, ithaka.

I'm with onesleep.

Emma Thompson's a good enough actress, but I find this particular character really irritating- her martyrdom re the affair- and this scene exemplifies that.

No, it is good.

It is a weird film, half great ( emma, alan, laura linney, and that boy who looks like my DS) and half cringeworthy awful ( martine mcC, Hugh, Keira though I like the bit where she realises about the bloke through how he filmed her)

Yep I can't bear that film, but that scene of Emma Thompson's character absorbing the fact that she's been lied to is heartbreaking.

I weep....
But in a manly style...

YANBU that scene makes me get all choked up every time! "you've made a mockery of the life I lead", all the effort of raising kids including Nativity Lobster costumes ...and he just pisses all over it

I love the Mariah bit too GiraffesandButterflies I do like a happy ending!

As an aside, how hot is Laura Linney's colleague? Phwoar.

Yabvu to watch in august.

Yanbu to cry. Its heartbreaking.

the thing is her character is real..

we all know sahm s who have given up jobs to raise families and absolutely throw themselves into the role. she is that PTA person supporting her kids and her dhs career. she's a warm character I think.

in the Royal Family if you have lost an elderly parent or nursed an old person this scene is literally heartbreaking.

it's great writing and exquisite acting.

Squoosh speaks the truth!!

Squoosh, he is a Brazilian model

Dreamlike....

I know it's a film but it makes me sad that there are people excusing his behaviour because she wasn't sexy enough

I find the scene where he's naked except for his tight black pants, his beautiful olive skin contrasting with the white bed sheets, quite, ummm, emotional myself.

Just googled him, just to remind myself of course, why can't we have a drool smiley.

ET, does that seen brilliantly, and Joni Mitchell playing in the back ground is perfect

hhhmmm when I first opened this thread I was all set toreply about how its one of my favourite films - all of it

That aside, that scene is my favourite part of the whole thing, and I particularly love that the bit of "both sides now" that plays while she's in the bedroom alone has the words "and if you care don't let them know, don't give yourself away". So poignant.

I love Emma Thompson, obviously dont know her but she always seems so interesting, genuine and lovely. I believe she's very good pals with Stephen Fry, I love him too and can see why they are pals.

Oh I love that scene. Makes me bulb every time.

The rest of the film is shite though

Love the movie, every bit of it! I'm with Gibber though, don't like the fact that some people think its ok for him to fanny around with someone else because ET's character is a bit mumsy... Who the fuck ever thought that was ok?!

The first time I saw that film after my husbands affair I started sobbing like a baby. He was there. I think it was the first time that he truly got it.

If I could be anyones BFF it would be ET!