Love actually
Love Actually is the latest offering from the dream team who made Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Bridget Jones's Diary.
You might, therefore, anticipate the winning formula: a delightfully British film, glorious shots of London, the obligatory stars (Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Colin Firth et al), a quirky cameo from Rowan Atkinson, some strong language from the outset, an ice-cool wedding and a funeral to die for.
It will prove big at the box office, thanks partly to its festive feel-good factor. Several threads run through the film, some of which unravel as Christmas approaches: the prime minister falls for a down-to-earth domestic with chubby thighs; a little boy feels the pain of unrequited love; a smitten novelist loves his Portuguese cleaner but they don't speak the same language.
Christians might reasonably wince at some of the swearing, feel affronted by scenes on a porn-movie set and decide there are too many 'glamour' shots for comfort; but when you mentally undress this film, there's a little more to it than meets the eye.
Take the couple who work at embarrassingly close quarters as body doubles on the porn set. Touchingly, they fall for each other when they find they simply like to chat. Elsewhere, an ageing rock star learns to express platonic love for his manager and lifelong companion.
In the end, this film has power because it doesn't tie up all of its loose ends. A middle-aged boss feels understandably flattered that a pretty colleague fancies him, and foolishly buys her an expensive present; his wife, who finds out, knows that whatever happens, life will 'always be a little bit worse' from now on.
Painfully, another woman who gets together with the man she has yearned for finds that her sick brother demands a greater, sacrificial love which promises to cost her dear.
Despite some clichés (like a last-minute dash to the airport on Christmas Eve) and teenage humour, the extraordinary, ordinary nature of love in this film gives it a British edge and a moral touch that makes it more than just another romantic comedy. Itis the love not of Hollywood couples riding into the sunset but of normal (if mostly beautiful) people being greeted in the neon glare of the arrivals lounge at Heathrow.
Brian Draper
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