To enjoy watching Love Actually

[Geminijust]

Just watched Love Actually for the umpteenth time. Thoroughly enjoyed it as usual and got me in the festive spirit.

Yes, the plot(s) is full of holes and mostly ridiculous! However, there are some great moments such as the Emma Thompson scene when she gets the CD instead of the necklace and lots of funny moments (Rowen Atkinson, Bill Nighy etc). My teen DD watching for the first time pointed out the sexism and the fat shaming (but still quite enjoyed it). She's not wrong, but meh! AIBU?

Just weighing in with my annual comments:

Shit film
Not funny
Not romantic
Offensive
Don’t understand why anyone in their right mind would enjoy it, but up to them

Off to rewatch Die Hard, see you next year!

I can never get my head around Liam Neeson supposedly utterly heart broken by his wife's death - then less than 6 weeks later he's recovered and happily dating Claudia Schiffer FFS.

Is he? I thought he was shown smiling at her and meeting her for the first time in the school corridor and then didn’t the film fast forward until the end? Can’t remember? Either way this is a light comedy and all the different stories were crammed in to a very short space of time. I understand that they had to drop two of them because there wasn’t time to include them. So you have to make allowances for that and the fact the director was trying to tie up the loose ends by the end. The film is not intended as a serious comment on misogyny and grief!

Same!

But then I hate rom coms and Christmas films 😂

😂

The film only fast forwards about 2 weeks to the start of term in January. That's why Liam Neeson + Claudia Schiffer are at the airport to meet the girl his stepson had a huge crush on.

I know the film is meant to be about 'love' but most of the 'love' relationships it explores are incredibly shallow and transitory. Bah humbug!

Actually, it’s the way in which posters on Mn appear to regard it with a type of reverence, at least the scene where Emma Thompson cries in her bedroom when she discovers Alan Rickman is a philandering rat, that has always disturbed me. It made me realise how many Mners are entirely disempowered, and economically vulnerable should their marriages fail. That scene is absolutely key to a certain type of Mners’ fears.

This is so true. I think a certain type of woman strongly identifies with Emma Thompson's character. They think they're being the perfectly naice wife, cooking homemade dinners, volunteering at their children's school and wearing jaunty Boden blouses. Only to discover that their DH is secretly bored to death by them and yearns for his sassy, scarlet lingerie wearing secretary. Wasn't it Jerry Hall who said husbands secretly want their wife's to only be naice in the drawing room, but want them to be dirty in the bedroom?

In the film Emma Thompson even admits that deciding to stay with her husband will mean that her life 'will be a little more shit from now on.' But she does it anyway, presumably because she has no financial independence from her DH and her self esteem is too low for her to realise she deserves much more from life.

Wasn't it Jerry Hall who said husbands secretly want their wife's to only be naice in the drawing room, but want them to be dirty in the bedroom?

Well, Jerry hasn't been able to hold onto either of her husbands, so what does she know?

I appreciate it sounds a bit Sistine-ceiling. I think it was a combination of what felt like a massively insensitive treatment of the storyline of a child losing their mother (a sore spot for me), the horrible way the Portuguese sister was talked about, the fact that the sad storylines had stuck with me, and the general bad feeling the film gave me that when I tried to explain my reaction I just cried. It was a bit extreme I know.

But the ‘it was fine at the time’ thing wasn’t true for me.

I think it was advice her Mother gave to her? Not sure how well she followed it.

It starts and ends with footage of real people hugging at airports, which is unusual in movies

I think it was advice her Mother gave to her? Not sure how well she followed it.

Seeing as Jerry's dad was a alcoholic gambler who violently beat his kids, I hope Jerry's giving better advice to her daughters. Though with Mick as their father ...

Love it.
I must be getting old, but this constant offence and outrage at everything is so tedious. People go on about the same thing in Friends - it is still an excellent show. The world was a much better and more relaxed place 20 years ago. I miss it.

Dd 13 and ds 12 found it boring. Dh and I just watched and enjoyed it. No overthinking. Plus if Andrew Lincoln stalked me I’d be ok with it. Because it’s a film. Plus I’d personally forgive Alan Rickman for anything.

Do I think Love Actually is a load of wank? Yes.
Do I believe there’s some worrying misogynistic undertones? Absolutely!
Do the romances have more red flags than the the state buildings in China? Of course!
Do I watch it several times every single Christmas? Absolutely!

As an aside I saw this the other day that made me chuckle

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0yFDtoMrZg/?igshid=N2ViNmM2MDRjNw==

Yup- still love it. Don't give a shit if it doesn't translate well to today, a film like that (and many of its era) wouldn't stand up to the diversity scrutiny of today, but for me it doesn't detract from the enjoyment I get out of them.

Agree completely. They always jarred with me too.

No wonder there's so much anxiety in the world when we overanalyse what's mostly a cheesy Christmas cringe fest.

Eight is a lot of legs, David.

Love it.

Love Actually should be watched with a pinch of salt and some festive cheer. Not all films are to be taken seriously.

I agree about the British joshing and dry humour. Why anyone would get sort a out a 20yo film is beyond me.

@SagaNorensPorche but you’re missing the point entirely. Culture is both inspired by and inspires real life. We watch things like love actually and get an idea of what life should be like. That includes both the schmaltzy and unrealistic view of love and things like Emma Thompson staying with her unfaithful husband, probably something that would be given short aheift within ten seconds of posting on MN.

Did she stay with him though? The ending is v ambiguous

The ending is ambiguous - I've just finished watching it and I still love Aurelia and Colin Firth. Alan Rickman is clearly a complete fool for what he does. There's no sense of genuine connection or chemistry with Mia. He straightaway realises he's made a huge mistake and says so and I can understand the ET character deciding to give it a go. But you can see it may not be good enough. The whole fat thing is v pervasive throughout, for men and women. Still eyeroll the whole way through the American trip.

My point was, take it for what it is, a cheesy unrealistic film, not lifestyle inspiration or a moral code. Some things don't need to be read into that deeply. Heaven help us if we can't look at a film or read a book without suspending disbelief a little.

Just watched it again with DH. Gets better every time! Even though some of the storylines are really sad and some are utterly ridiculous, something about it gives me a warm fuzzy glow.