To ask who's story you don't like in Love Actually?

[fairybeagle]

I don't like Colin's. And as I've got older I've started to dislike Andre Lincoln's characters (which is sad as I used to love it so sort of taking the magic out of it) as he's actually a creepy stalker.

The whole thing is shite, but as a widow myself I was disgusted by them portraying Liam Neeson as a widower who apparently got over his much loved dead wife in ten days, by which time he was lusting after Claudia Schiffer, a fellow parent at his son’s school.

Obviously she doesn’t have to spend all her time with her brother. She does it out of love.

No, she does it out of obligation. She clearly loves him, but she does it out of obligation (see the 😬 face she makes for proof).

And, as a pp said, to avoid intimacy / rejection.

I watch it every year, even though there's an absolute overload of cringe and absolute eye-rolly sexism.

Bill Nighy and his manager are gold.

No, she does it out of obligation. She clearly loves him, but she does it out of obligation (see the 😬 face she makes for proof).

Yep, the obligation many people feel to those they love.

Guess what....I've never seen it.

I love that the aging rock star doesn't go to Elton's but stays with his long suffering manager! That is real love.

The Laura Linney one really upsets me. More that the guy wouldn't see her afterwards - yes, she didn't need to see her brother immediately, but that's no reason to reject someone.

I love the Rickman/Thompson storyline but hate the fact that Thompson at the airport has undergone a style transformation. What's that message about? If she had invested more in her looks then he wouldn't have strayed in the first place????

I could pick apart the rest of the film too but despite everything I do love it

All of them, can't bear it!

I hated it the very first time I saw it.

Us Brits can't do Xmas romcoms, leave it to the experts (Americans).

All of them. LA is a dreadful film and I judge anyone who says they enjoy it/is their favourite Christmas film.

ALL OF THEM.

The WORST film ever.

Ugh. Loathe it.

@LyingWitchInTheWardrobe
You're offended by that review but not by the many, many things that are so wrong with this film?!

Ok... 🤔

EllenRipley, the film is several segments of continual nonsense, it's not offensive. It's not my favourite film but it is for other people. Being derogatory about people with ginger hair is. Does that help explain?

That try-too-hard-to-be-funny-reviewer was offensive.

I love it - think it's fab & having lived in the US for a number of years, totally love the Colin storyline as it's very true for a lot of the American girls I met who absolutely adore a man with an English accent (despite the shit he may actually be speaking!).

The entire premise of LA is that there is no point in any man actually talking to a woman because women never say anything worth listening to.

It is a sick film that gives a disturbing insight into RC's mind, as do all his other films. Curtis's mind squirms like a toad where women are concerned.

Lying witch I find Love Actually offensive, to all women, brunette, blonde, ginger, grey, blue black yellow. Short or tall, fat or thin, young and old.

Yep, the obligation many people feel to those they love.

So you're agreeing with us then, churchandstate. She's definitely not positively motivated to be there for her brother.

She doesn't want to be there - she feels obliged to be there because she loves him.

She doesn't want to be there - she feels obliged to be there because she loves him

I don’t think I said otherwise. I said she’s there because she loves him. 🤷🏻‍♀️

So we have:

A PM who fancies the woman who brings him tea. Gets her reposted elsewhere and then knocks on every door to find where she lives.

Someone who can't speak Portugeuse, sees his home cleaner take her clothes off when she jumps into the lake to get his work and falls in love...with her body. Then proposes to her in front of a crowd.

A man attracted to someone at work. Buys her a necklace, leaves his wife.

A man who decides to go to the USA to sleep with American women on the basis that they will like his accent. It works

A boy who fancies a girl at school. Learns the drums, Follows her to the airport. Runs through security to the gate. She gives him a kiss.

A man attracted to his best friend's wife. Films her and just her at her wedding. He then turns up on her doorstep, carrying cards saying he loves her. She then gives him a kiss.

A woman who fancies someone at work. They are interrupted because she has to care for her brother, even though he is in an institution. Later on, when she sees the man again, he just wishes her "Merry Christmas"

I don't think it passes the Bechdel test - as I don't think women speak to each other at all.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Love_Actually

Another analysis

ueafeminism.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/five-reasons-love-actually-is-actually-horribly-sexist/

Love all the stories, but the saddest is the one with the sister who has to renounce love as she feels tied to her mentally ill brother, by Fear, Guilt and Obligation. Always felt a pang when I watch it.

I dont like Emma Thompson either so any of her bits...

It's a dreadful film really but watch it every year
And yes we forward through the colin parts

Love colin Firth and Emma Thompson

@SVRT19674 That's what I feel with regards to that storyline. Her DB is actual in a psychiatric hospital so she isn't his carer. She could have carried on visiting him and answering some of his calls whilst putting boundaries in place, like when she had a new boyfriend come for the night. (Presumably she would stop taking calls from her brother during the night anyway?)

I accept that some posters think it's a wonderful example of love and loyalty, but it's actually a clear example of someone who is co-dependent, and has been conditioned this way over many years.

It's also sexist. Can you imagine a man breaking off when in bed with his lover to take a call from his mentally ill sister?

I accept that some posters think it's a wonderful example of love and loyalty, but it's actually a clear example of someone who is co-dependent, and has been conditioned this way over many years.

I find MN a really sad place on this topic. I’m not saying I would act this way exactly myself, but there’s almost an anger on here that anybody would, and that’s quite a shame in a way. Some people are very unselfish. Let’s not slag them off for it.