Love Actually is one of those movies that pretty much everyone loves. It's a Christmas tradition for many families to gather around and watch it every year, and it works just as well for Valentine's Day. With its mix of comedic skits, hard-hitting drama and romantic sentimentality, you would think that it has all a movie can offer.
It's a shame then, that when it comes time for everyone to watch Love Actually, I personally would rather be doing anything else. There's not much you can do about it - everyone has that one movie or TV show that they just don't understand the hype around. But even being a non-fan of the romantic comedy, I can admit that it has a few great moments.
Easily the best part of the movie for me is also the most painful one to watch. After Harry (Alan Rickman) has been tempted by his new secretary into cheating on his wife Karen (Emma Thompson), he ends up buying an expensive necklace as a Christmas present for her.
In an awkward turn of events, Karen comes across the necklace in his jacket pocket and assumes it's for her. When it comes time for her to open her present, she is heartbroken to find that instead he has gotten her a Joni Mitchell CD, meaning the necklace was for another woman. Then comes the most heartbreaking scene of all, when Thompson retreats to her room to cry after making the discovery.
It's a wonderful piece of acting, but as it turns out, it was also one that the actress pulled from her own life. According to a recent interview Thompson gave, she drew from her own pain, namely when her eight-year marriage to actor-director Kenneth Branagh came to an end in 1994.
It was rumoured that the end of the relationship came after she had discovered that her husband had been engaged in an affair with Helena Bonham Carter, who he later got together with, staying together until 1999.
Speaking at a fundraiser event for the for the Tricycle Theatre in London, she explained how this was drawn from real experience:
"That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so well known because it’s something everyone’s been through.
"I had my heart very badly broken by Ken. So I knew what it was like to find the necklace that wasn’t meant for me. Well it wasn’t exactly like that, but we’ve all been through it"
While it is unlikely that Thompson found out about any affair after finding a necklace meant for someone else, it's clear that she tapped into her own previous heartbreak to bring out the emotion in that memorable scene.
People are still watching this movie 15 years after its release, but it was only recently that fans stumbled upon this crazy detail about the smash hit movie.
