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Script Editor Reveals Secrets, Like What Happened With Karen and Harry..

posted 9 years ago by rap31264
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'Love Actually' Script Editor Emma Freud Reveals Movie’s Secrets, Like What Happened With Karen and Harry’s Marriage

Question: Can u please explain outcome for Emma and Alan's characters or must I remain eternally confused? I never did work that one out!

Emma Freud: "they stay together but home isn't as happy as it once was."

Question: Did anyone ask if Harry ACTUALLY had an affair or was just tempted to? Alan Rickman villains r usually lovable but not this one!

Emma Freud: DEFINITELY had an affair. i begged richard just to make it a flirtation, but no. the whole way.

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/39-love-actually-39-script-editor-reveals-1321234887532598.html

[–] Lady_Elaine_Fairchild 9 years ago

She live tweeted from a midnight showing that she Richard Curtis (writer/director and her partner of the last 25 years)and their children (who were in the movie) went to recently.

Its a hoot.

https://twitter.com/emmafreud

As a renaissance chick, I paint, write, and sing loudly off-key.

[–] amsclassic 9 years ago

Ugh... Makes me probably more upset than is reasonable considering this is a movie. I thought for sure Rickman's character was still in the flirtation stage and hadn't yet 'sealed the deal.'

Ah well, I guess every ending can't be a happy one.. :/

[–] louiseculmer 9 years ago

A £200 necklace is definitely well beyond flirtation.

[–] amsclassic 9 years ago

True.. But they didn't really show anything on camera and I guess I was hoping that it was sort of a 'courting' gift. Like... Old-fashioned. I said I was hoping! Mostly because I like Alan Rickman so much as an actor, hate to see him in a role so *beep* It didn't even seem like he was left wanting in the marriage or anything of that nature, mostly just cheated because that girl was slutty and gave him the opportunity. Sad to think of how many people would jump on that opportunity if offered up on a silver platter.

[–] LovesConfusingJoy 8 years ago

I think it's believable considering he's older and is probably desperate for excitement.

[–] Scarlett_Butler 9 years ago

How are people this surprised by this "reveal"? It was totally obvious. They showed Mia in her underwear getting up from a rumpled bed and putting on the necklace that she had presumably just received.

That scene didn't end up looking like that by accident. Do people pay close attention to movies anymore?

HOW IS IT A SURPRISE TO ANYONE THAT HE HAD A SEXUAL AFFAIR?

[–] OhLookItsXena 9 years ago

Huh, i always thought it was a somewhat artistically tasteful conveyance of the fact that the secretary was a bit of a young, shiny, overly sexualised, home wrecking sort of sexpot.

But yeah, would it have killed them to show Rickman in the bed or getting dressed.

[–] SenoritaTorres 9 years ago

I just watched it again tonight, I watch it every Christmas.

Yeah, I'm 32 years old, have seen this film at least 15 times and have never once even thought that he had slept with her. Not even in that scene where she put the necklace on in her underwear.

[–] netza 9 years ago

Me to have seen this a few times and I'm 31. I have always thought that since she is still in her underwear there is no sex. It's a movie after all, if they had wanted to show that there really was sex involved there would have been sex on screen.

[–] scottlyle 8 years ago

We watch the movie every year as well and I had always assumed they did not have sex for the same reasons. We know they're OK with showing sex and nudity in the movie and it only shows her alone. I'd think they they would have shown Harry arriving at her apartment and her pulling him in to imply sex rather than showing her alone.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

true true and true. They didn't imply or show hard enough to tell the audience something REALLY happened. I too never felt it went that far. It was christmas, he was buying a gift - a little pricey but he is a big wig so no big deal - it was the potential intent: Wife gets a CD, hottie gets jewlery... never fully realized, never happened in MY viewing.

[–] beja-4 9 years ago

I can always excuse myself with the loo when this scene, Mia putting on the necklace, was on. But since I also have seen it at least 4 times, count me in among those clueless women. Because I've always believed that it wasn't enough time to become a sexual relationship.

I'm not very naive, I think the main reason is, that I didn't think Harry would fall for someone who sits and spreads her legs like that just before a Christmas party and is so obviously intrusive. Maybe I'm the only one who don't think she is particularly attractive, but she has does have a divine body, ugh. Nah, I'm disppointed... 

[–] v-nicoletta 9 years ago

1. I apologize for my bad English I'll give my best ;D
But if you look closer you can see that the just one pillow is rumpled and the one not. So I would guess she's the only one who slept in her bed. The scene before was Karen opening her present, so how could Harry have slept with Mia ? I mean I think that he visited Mia to give her the gift. But it's actually possible that Harry slept with her because they don't live far away.
Please, could you say what I wrote wrong ,if possible. I have to improve my very bad English.

[–] Thomasina 8 years ago

1. I apologize for my bad English I'll give my best ;D
But if you look closer you can see that the just one pillow is rumpled and the one not. So I would guess she's the only one who slept in her bed. The scene before was Karen opening her present, so how could Harry have slept with Mia ?

Your English is good! But no matter how much you learn about another language, sometimes its idioms can be confusing and misleading. In English, when you say that a person "slept with" another person, it means that they had sex--not that they necessarily did any actual sleeping. I will not get graphic about it, but it is totally possible to have sex with someone and only rumple one pillow!

I have always assumed that they did have sex, and since the script editor (who is also the longtime romantic partner of the screenwriter/director) says that they did, I think it is pretty definite.

[–] ms-trixi 9 years ago

I always assumed that they had slept together. It made the movie more complex and better to me. Life is messy like that. And it showed how imperfect humans can be. I think that he really loved his wife, but Mia was too tempting. And I've known girls like Mia that would happily cheat with a married man just for the fun of it. In fact, things like that happen all the time. I loved that storyline and liked that they didn't actually show the deed. And Karen is the one that actually seems to confirm the fact that he cheated. Her heartbreaking reaction shows her intuition about him having an affair. Emma Thompson's performance was spot on. And that is why that storyline was so heartbreaking.

"Getting old is not for sissies."
Bette Davis

[–] jajceboy 9 years ago

How can it be a secret? it's not even that ambiguous to me. Curtis states it pretty well openly that it was more than a simple flirt going on. I cached it immediately at my first view of it back in 2006, when I was 16.
And Emma Thompson's performance made it even more obvious that he did cheat. She was heart-broken and showed it in her performance.That's a cry from someone who feels betrayed by the one person she truly loves.
The scenes coming after that also made the point that she was angry, heart-broken but decided to stay, at least for the sake of their children.

[–] angel1008 8 years ago

He never denied it, either. He he said he was a fool. He knew he was caught. If he had given her the necklace and NOT slept with her, or even decided to take it back to the store when he realized that it was stupid and risky, he would have said that. Mia putting it on was what sealed it, along with the rumpled bed.

Mia was a whore. She expected "payment", the necklace, for sex.

[–] lilactime2014 8 years ago

Nope, don't think so at all. It was never shown so I can make up my own story.

Harry was sooooo tempted, what man wouldn't be tempted. Home was comfortable and fairly predictable, which can be a good thing. But this young temptress was offering a bit of excitement the likes of which he hadn't had in 15-20 years.

I think he got the present as he got caught up in the excitement.

That is what upset Karen so much. The fact that he would have but I don't think they got the opportunity. It was all too close to Christmas, Karen was at the office party, so it wasn't then.

He had mentally strayed and that hurt her. Not enough to divorce, but enough to wound.

'tler

[–] louiseculmer 8 years ago

You can tell by the smug look on her face as she puts the necklace on that she's had her wicked way with him. he wouldn't buy a necklace like that for someone he wasn't having sex with.

[–] sirjeremy 8 years ago

Finally, we can put an end to all the debates that have been going on for years here! On my first viewing, in 2003 when I was younger and a little naive, I thought the story was ambiguous but a few years after that when I started rewatching it regularly it seemed so obvious that he did sleep with Mia.

[–] StevieB4 (1) 5 years ago

Emma Freud says they "definitely had an affair" but I don't see how you would conclude that. It always bothered me it wasn't made more obvious. Even when Emma Thompson's character questions her husband, she asks is it "just a necklace, a necklace and sex or a necklace and love". This tells me that it is possible that nothing physical has yet taken place. I always thought the movie was very well done, but that part of it was very sloppy. Surely it would have been easy to establish a physical affair had happened beyond a reasonable doubt.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

^^^ this

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

Yes, a glimpse of Harry straightening his tie as he leaves Mia’s house would have answered everything.

I wonder if Mia live with her parents like her neighbor Natalie did? If so, eww. If not, then how come she can afford a big townhouse on an assistant’s salary? Even in the dodgy end of town the houses looked nice, were owned by older families.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

just watched again last night. the acting is a pinch over the top for them to NOT have done the deed, but still, there is not enough given to us to assume FOR SURE he violated the physical part. could literally go either way.

One one hand, the emotions shown and words said certainly FIT a full on violation.
On the other hand, those emotions could also be from a mental/emotional affair only depending how those character rate the impact.

Meh..... they did it, whatever. :) Still a good film and a harsh moment slice of life.

[–] [deleted] 5 years ago

What was in it for Mia, other than a necklace? Why go for an older, married guy when Karl was there for the taking? Would Mia still want to work for Harry after the affair was over?