So, right here’s a secret: Regardless of being an avid Christmas movie lover, I had by no means seen Love Truly till very not too long ago. Sure, mild reader; I heard your gasp from past my Google doc. How? Why? Positive, it could be much more attention-grabbing if I mentioned it’s as a result of it’s an unfunny, horrible, cringey movie. The much less thrilling reality is that I simply by no means bought round to it.
The festive season is formally upon us, so what higher time to offer it a whirl? In any case, it’s been 21 years since Richard Curtis’s ensemble rom-com premiered and have become a everlasting fixture in festive viewing.
First impressions? It’s a heartwarming flick, jam-packed with a glittering forged, dishonest scandals, and a Christmas nativity, making it, at face worth, a wonderfully effective Christmas movie. There are zingy one-liners (“The place the fuck is my fucking coat?” has been swirling round my head for a superb few days now) and epic declarations of affection in an airport. All appears fairly good to me.
However it’s additionally the identical movie that makes “fats” jokes and objectifies girls at nearly each flip. Watching in 2024, you may’t assist however need extra for the feminine characters. Each lady is both a scorned spouse, a dishonest girlfriend, or a fairly younger factor. Each storyline revolves round what a person desires and desires from a girl. And just about all the feminine characters function mere plot units.
Aurelia (Lúcia Moniz) might be the obvious instance of the above. She’s the beautiful, non-English-speaking, Portuguese love curiosity who works as a housekeeper in Jamie’s (Colin Firth) rented French villa. To start with, Jamie doesn’t pay a lot consideration to Aurelia in any respect. It’s not till Jamie’s papers get blown into the lake and Aurelia jumps in to retrieve them that she turns into of curiosity. Up till that time, we’ve barely seen any of Aurelia’s character, and we don’t know something about her. Naturally, their story ends with Jamie studying Portuguese and proposing in Aurelia’s father’s restaurant. Not fairly positive how we bought there.
