x The Story : Set almost entirely in London, England during five frantic weeks before Christmas follows a web-like pattern of inter-related, losely related and unrelated stories of a dozen or more various individuals with their love lives, or lack of them. The central character is the new bachelor prime minister David (Hugh Grant) who cannot express his growing feelings he feels for his new personal assistant Natalie (Martine McCutcheon). The prime minister's older sister Karen (Emma Thompson) slowly grows aware about her husband Harry's (Alan Rickman) flirtation with an office worker named Mia (Heike Makatsch). Karen's friend Daniel (Liam Neeson) is a recently widowed writer whose 11-year-old son asks for love advice to a girl he has a crush on. Meanwhile, Jamie (Colin Firth) is another writer who leaves his girlfriend after catching her cheating on him and travels to France to write a novel where he persues a possible romance with his non-English speaking Portuguese maid Aurelia (Lucia Moniz). Also, Harry's American secretary Sarah (Laura Linney) questions a romance she persues with the office hunk Karl (Rodrigo Santoro), but her personal family problems get in the way. Other secondary characters involve a photographer who persues his best friend's new wife Juliet (Keira Knightley); a pair of movie stand-ins, named John and Judy, who grow closer after their simulated love scenes; a libious chum who wants to travel to Wisconsin, USA to score with women; and a burned-out former rock star named Billy Mack (Bill Nighy) who is the main connection between all stories involved.

x Takes on Emma :" Emma Thompson brings copious amounts of grace and dignity to every one of her scenes."
---- Colin Souter @ eFilmcritic.com

x ":There is also the great pleasure in seeing so many terrific actors doing their thing. Emma Thompson: What a delight you are! Why can't you be in three movies a year, like so many of your less-talented colleagues? ."
---- Eric D Snider @ ericdsnider.com

x: " And for tearjerking moments, no one can beat Thompson's performance as the stalwart wife of the straying Rickman. A Christmas Eve scene showcases her talent for comedy, pathos and pluck, all the while breaking our hearts."
---- Claudia Puig @ usatoday.com

x: " But then Emma Thompson appears, glowing with class and reminding us why she's still the most exquisite creature on the planet "
---- Rob Vaux @ flipsidemovies.com

x Emma on Love Actually:" I play the Prime Minister's sister and I'm married to Alan Rickman and have two children. It's a fairly typical marriage and it's being rocked by the suspicion of betrayal. What I think is good about it is that it reminds you that, after 15 years of marriage, you can still get your heart broken."
----more-> bbc

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