“Love Actually” is 21 years old… and has aged badly

Grossophobic jokes, women who sacrifice themselves for men, virtual absence of diversity… Watching the 2003 Christmas romantic comedy again is like returning to the world before – and not the one we regret!

C‘has become THE cuddly Christmas ritual: watch Love Actually with friends, lovers or family, wearing rabbit slippers and a heart-shaped hot water bottle on their knees. From generation to generation comedy feel good of 2003 has never ceased to melt artichoke hearts. It must be said that this sketch film, a colorful patchwork of variations on love, is broad enough to unite: around ten characters and situations – from the cheated wife to the little boy in love for the first time – and a breathtaking cast (Hugh Grant, Andrew Lincoln, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley…).

What remains twenty years later? Some pieces of bravery (Bill Nighy as a rocker on the comeback), touches of humor so british. For the rest, the candy took a good shovel. Even director Richard Curtis expressed his mea-culpa. Pinned by his daughter, who criticizes his work for its lack of diversity and its fatphobia, the screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Bridget Jones et Love at first sight in Notting Hill admitted that he made boomer films! To rewatch the romantic comedy on the occasion of its twenty-first anniversary is to return to the world before, and not the one we regret the most: almost zero diversity, reactive and ultra-gendered romanticism, and slight hint xenophobia to boot. Small anthology.

A certain vision of love

In Love Actually, love at first sight is the rule. And, preferably, between people from different social backgrounds (syndrome Pretty Woman). As soon as David, the English Prime Minister (Hugh Grant), sees his secretary, Natalie (Martine McCutcheon), his heart starts racing. Jamie (Colin Firth), a writer deceived by his partner, catches the eye of Aurelia (Lúcia Moniz), his new Portuguese housekeeper, and boom, butterflies in his stomach. The alchemy here is instantaneous and purely physical. Jamie and Aurelia don’t speak the same language? No matter, it will only take them a few days of cohabitation, between mime and discussion in Esperanto, to know that they are made for each other… Under assumed text: love goes beyond linguistic divisions . With a little bad thinking we can see it differently: this lucky guy Jamie has found an almost mute woman, who also scrubs his pots, while not hesitating to throw herself into a lake in her scantily clad to fish out the pages stolen from her manuscript (wet t-shirt moment)… Sexy, dedicated and not talkative, the basic macho’s dream.

You women, you charm

A woman, in Love Actually, is above all a brave housewife… or a nurse at heart. Aurelia, therefore, bricks the house of her future lover. Natalie’s job is to bring tea and sweets to the Prime Minister. Karen, a stay-at-home mother (Emma Thompson), makes Christmas costumes for the school nursery, while her husband (Alan Rickman), a business owner, fools around with his assistant, who ostentatiously spreads her thighs at each time he walks past her at the office, and whispers « I am yours » at the slightest opportunity. Sarah (Laura Linney) sacrifices her love life to her psychotic brother. Men have power, women have to serve them.

A dad, a mom

Well, we were in the early 2000s, but already at the time, this ensemble film was intended to be a reflection of society, a generational mirror, in which everyone could find themselves. In terms of ethnic diversity, Chiwetel Ejiofor, in the (very small) role of a newlywed, vaguely ticks the box. But twenty years later, it’s hard not to see that the film has forgotten something else. Same-sex love… Oops!

Rock your prince charming

Hugh Grant, aka David, the new tenant of 10 Downing Street, is handsome, rich, famous and single! At first glance, the ideal man. A handsome, gently goofing kid, who bats his eyelashes, blushes when he sees his secretary, swings his hips solo to the Pointer Sisters in the ministry lounges… Up close, he reveals himself to be more of a toad than prince charming. Particularly when he asks, in a meeting, “Who do we have to knock over here to get some tea?” “, or, paternalistic, gives “my princess, my wonder”, to his chief of staff. In the film’s most surreal scene, David catches the President of the United States (Billy Bob Thornton) harassing his sweetheart and secretary, Natalie. Courageous – but not reckless – he makes an anti-American speech at a press conference, but behind the scenes, hastens to fire the sinner, who troubles him more than reason and prevents him from working. In 2023, the victim would have alerted HR (at least we hope). In the 2003 romance, she is the one who apologizes. « I’m sorry about the other day, he fell on me. Nothing happened I swear ! » later wrote a grieving Natalie, more in love than ever, to her ex-employer in a very cute postcard. Even before #MeToo, these scenes were already a stain.

Extra-close love

In the wonderful world of romantic comedy made by Curtis, weight is an inexhaustible source of laughter. Thus, Natalie (who definitely suffers all the outrages) says that her ex left her because she had “thighs like posts”. Hugh Grant sympathized, but later still described his loved one as a girl “chubby”, before her chief of staff outbid: « She has a rather massive posterior, sir.” ! Dressed in lard for the winter, the little employee – with an absolutely standard body weight otherwise – is not spared by her family either, who affectionately call her “bouboule”. Running gag as fine as a cassoulet pudding.

When Portuguese rhymes with arrears

In Marseille, a land of contrasts, lives a very strange community. She moves in a herd, speaks neither French nor English, speaks in a thunderous manner, and kisses everyone on the mouth. Who are these people? The Portuguese. Finally the Portuguese from Marseille, according to Richard Curtis. When Jamie arrives without warning at Aurelia’s family to ask for her hand, he is greeted by his father, paunchy and belching, proudly wearing his tank top. The rest of the clan does not raise the standard: notably the sister, who bellows in the street “the father is going to sell Aurelia as a slave to the Englishman!” ». But even among these Portuguese-speaking Thénardiers, we know how to finish in style, applauding wildly for the bride and groom – who, let’s remember, still do not speak the same language – in the middle of the vapors of bacalao… Help!