Films that seem to have everything going for them but that don't come together can be much more frustrating than films that are simply bad. You keep rooting for them and then sighing. Eleanor Coppola's second dramatic feature "Love is Love is Love" is that kind of film. It's an anthology of three short stories about love and commitment and the prismatic nature of the human personality. It draws together a first-rank cast of character actresses and actors, most of them over 50, then mostly fails to invest the material with the invention and snappiness needed to invigorate it and make it memorable, as opposed to merely agreeable.
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The first segment follows a film producer named Jack and his confectioner wife Joanne (Chris Messina and Joanne Whalley) who are separated by geography (she's back in their hometown, he's in Montana shooting a movie) but decide to have a virtual date by taking their laptops to nearby restaurants. The appearance of a beautiful female colleague on Jack's end of the connection introduces a note of uncertainty and suspicion that changes the vibe of the meal. This spurs Jack to strenuously declare his love for Joanne, and makes Joanne unsure whether her husband is overdoing it because he got caught cheating or because he's just upset over having inadvertently upset her.
Love Actually is a 2003 Christmas romantic comedy film written and directed by Richard Curtis. It features an ensemble cast, composed predominantly of British actors, many of whom had worked with Curtis in previous film and television projects. Mostly filmed on location in London, the screenplay delves into different aspects of love as shown through ten separate stories involving a wide variety of individuals, many of whom are shown to be interlinked as the tales progress. The story begins five weeks before Christmas and is played out in a weekly countdown until the holiday, followed by an epilogue that takes place one month later.
A voiceover opens the film, commenting that whenever he gets gloomy about the state of the world, he thinks of the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport, about the pure uncomplicated love of friends and families welcoming their loved ones. He also points out that the messages from the 9/11 victims were messages of love and not hate. The story then switches between the interconnecting "love stories" of many people:
Juliet and Peter's wedding is videotaped by the best man, Mark, where a surprise band plays the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" as they walk out of the church. Although the couple believe Mark dislikes Juliet, he is actually in love with her. When he evades her requests to see the video he shot at the wedding, she shows up at his flat. Juliet insists she wants them to be friends, but when she views the wedding video Mark recorded, she sees many extreme close-ups of herself and few of Peter's face. She realises Mark's true feelings towards her. After an uncomfortable silence, Mark blurts out that he acts cold out of "self-preservation".
On Christmas Eve, Juliet answers the doorbell to find Mark carrying a boombox playing a Christmas carol and large cue cards. While Peter is inside watching television, Mark tells a message of his love to Juliet through the cue cards. As he walks away down the street, Juliet runs after him, gives him a quick kiss and returns inside.
Jamie returns to England, realises he is in love with Aurélia and begins learning Portuguese. He returns to France to find her and ends up walking through town with her father and sister, gathering additional people as they walk to her waitressing job. In basic, and often grammatically incorrect Portuguese, he declares his love for her and proposes. She says yes in broken English, showing she too had been studying English "just in cases", as the crowd erupts in applause.
Sarah first appears at Juliet and Peter's wedding, sitting next to her friend Jamie. An American working at Harry's graphic design company, she is in love with the creative director, Karl. Prompted by Harry, they finally connect at the Christmas party and Karl drives her home. Michael, her mentally ill brother, telephones from a psychiatric hospital, aborting their tryst. On Christmas Eve they are both working late. Karl tries to find words but just wishes her a merry Christmas and leaves. In tears, Sarah calls Michael and visits him to give him a Christmas gift.
John and Judy are professional stand-ins for films. They meet doing the sex scenes for a film for which Tony is a production assistant. John tells Judy that "It's lovely to find someone [he] can actually chat to." While they are perfectly comfortable being naked and simulating sex on-set, they are shy and tentative off-set. They carefully pursue a relationship, attending the Christmas pageant (involving David and Natalie, Harry and Karen's children, Daniel and Sam, etc.) at the local school with John's brother. They get engaged by the end of the film.
All the stories are linked in some way; while Billy Mack and his manager may not connect with any of the other characters physically, Billy appears frequently on characters' radios and TVs, his music video twice providing an important plot device for Sam's pursuit of Joanna, and they also cross paths with the other characters in the closing Heathrow scene. John and Judy work with Tony, who is best friends with Colin, who works for a catering company that services the office where Sarah, Karl, Mia and Harry work. Mia is friends with Mark, who runs the art gallery where the Christmas office party takes place. Mia also lives next door to Natalie. Mark is in love with Juliet and friends with Peter. The couple is friends with Jamie and Sarah. Harry is married to Karen, who is friends with Daniel and her brother is David, who works with Natalie. Harry and Karen's children (and thus David's niece and nephew), Natalie's siblings (and thus Mia's neighbours) and Carol's son are all schoolmates of Sam and Joanna. An additional plot that was dropped in editing concerned the children's headmistress (Anne Reid) and her dying lesbian partner (Frances de la Tour).[7]
Initially, Curtis started writing with two distinct and separate films in mind, each featuring expanded versions of what would eventually become storylines in Love Actually: those featuring Hugh Grant and Colin Firth.[8] He changed tack, however, having become frustrated with the process.[9] Partly inspired by the films of Robert Altman as well as films such as Pulp Fiction, and inspired by Curtis having become "more interested in writing a film about love and what love sort of means" he had the idea of creating an ensemble film.[9] The film initially did not have any sort of Christmas theme, although Curtis's penchant for such films eventually caused him to write it as one.[10]
Michael Atkinson of The Village Voice called it "love British style, handicapped slightly by corny circumstance and populated by colorful neurotics".[38] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half out of four stars, describing it as "a belly-flop into the sea of romantic comedy ... The movie's only flaw is also a virtue: It's jammed with characters, stories, warmth and laughs, until at times Curtis seems to be working from a checklist of obligatory movie love situations and doesn't want to leave anything out ... It feels a little like a gourmet meal that turns into a hot-dog eating contest."[39]
In Rolling Stone, Peter Travers rated it two stars out of a possible four, saying "there are laughs laced with feeling here, but the deft screenwriter Richard Curtis dilutes the impact by tossing in more and more stories. As a director ... Curtis can't seem to rein in his writer. ... He ladles sugar over the eager-to-please Love Actually to make it go down easy, forgetting that sometimes it just makes you gag."[45] Christopher Orr of The Atlantic was negative toward the work and described it as the least romantic movie of all time, considering its ultimate message to be "It's probably best if you give up on love altogether and get on with the rest of your life."[46][47]
David tries to please Hugh by fixing a car which belonged to Jade's late brother Chris; ironically, Hugh is the only one not delighted by this gesture. Late that night, Jade sneaks David into the study where - at her urging - they make love. They strive to make the most of the ten days she has left at home. Ultimately, Jade opts to decline the internship to spend the summer with David, infuriating Hugh. She later invites David to accompany the family to their lake house; he is welcomed warmly by everybody but Hugh, who his wife Anne begs to give him a chance. She points out that Jade seems truly happy for the first time in ages.
David runs into Anne at a bookstore, and she tells him she admires his and Jade's love. She arranges for David to meet Jade at the airport when she comes home for the holidays. They reaffirm their love and Jade plans to go off with David that night, while Anne confronts Hugh about his obsession with destroying David's life; including Hugh never sending her college recommendation letter for him.
Anne and Hugh amicably separate, but remain determined to rediscover their love, inspired by Jade and David; who are flying out to California, having been selected as maid of honor and best man at Sabine and Keith's wedding. Both couples celebrate on the beach, where they camp. Sharing David's bedroll, Jade fondly recalls how her first love - the relationship she shares with him - was everything all at once, the kind of undying love worth fighting to keep.
Love Actually revolves around 10 interconnected love stories in the countdown to Christmas, which are perfectly punctuated and enhanced through a mix of great pop songs and a romantic score from Craig Armstrong.
If you're in search of a love poem for the special person in your life (your husband or wife, perhaps), your only challenge is volume. There are simply so many excellent options, from famous romantic poems you've likely heard before (think: the work of e.e. cummings) and beautiful modern options you may not have (like "Poem to First Love," by Matthew Yeager). 2ff7e9595c
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