# Love actually - is Emma Thompson's character overreacting? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146 "2011-01-02T17:23:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146/101 "2017-12-31T02:02:19Z")
> [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > I seem to remember a deleted scene in the extras that dialogue between the assistant and the owner of the gallery where the Xmas party was held. In it she is pretty openly trying to seduce her boss for her own amusement - the impression given was that is was a bit of a power thing for her and had little to do with any attraction. I’ll have to see if I can find the scene on my disc at home. Anyway, it made you a little more sympathetic to Rickman’s character that he was being manipulated by a bored hussy who apparently felt nothing for him. Makes the whole thing more pathetic. Wasn’t her date at that party also Sheriff Rick? So it wasn’t like she was lacking in male companionship. The actress who played the hussy also seduced Xander in an early episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Her character was a kind of were-Praying Mantis who planned to have sex with him and then devour him. Somehow, I always suspect she planned to do the same to Rickman. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146/102 "2017-12-31T02:15:22Z")
There was also a deleted subplot showing that Liam Neeson’s son was a champion gymnast, and his ability to elude the security guards at the airport was due to that. I was aware that Rowan Arkinson’s character was originally written as an angel, from listening to the DVD commentary. But I just started thinking how that may have been a factor in the excruciatingly slow process by which he wraps the necklace. If you don’t know he’s an angel, you just think he’s being an obnoxiously scrupulous clerk. But if he’s an angel, is he drawing out the process to make it more likely that Emma Thompson will see the gift and think it’s for her, thus reducing the chance of Rickman being drawn into an affair? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146/103 "2017-12-31T04:58:44Z")
> [@Arizona\_Mike](#): > > …If you don’t know he’s an angel, you just think he’s being an obnoxiously scrupulous clerk… Just obnoxious, I thought. ---
**Author:** ![Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de0a6/32.png) [@Gullible\_s\_Travels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gullible_s_Travels)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2017, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146/104 "2017-12-31T11:28:44Z")
I’ve always assumed that the school concert is on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day. Is it actually stated that it’s Christmas Day? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146/105 "2018-01-06T15:11:09Z")
> [@Arizona\_Mike](#): > > The actress who played the hussy also seduced Xander in an early episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not the same actress - Mia was played by [Heike Makatsch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heike_Makatsch). Ms French was played by [Musetta Vander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musetta_Vander). ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146/106 "2018-01-07T02:07:06Z")
I haven’t watched the movie in a while, but Emma’s scene in the bedroom as she struggles to compose herself is one of my favorite scenes ever. She is not over-reacting at all…I’ve been in this situation of realizing you’ve been betrayed and that everything you thought you knew as true and solid is now shifting beneath your feet…but you have children to take care of and a facade to prepare for the world. Add in the juxtaposition of the song, and I cry every time. And I have always looked at Mia as being cold and calculating in trying to move her way up the ladder by seducing the boss and thus gaining power. She wasn’t in love with him, she wasn’t just looking for a fling…she’s ambitious and sees him as an easy conquest whom she can use to get what she wants. I’m undecided as to whether she succeeded in getting him into bed, but in the bedroom scene where she puts on the necklace, it’s clear she thinks that she has him snared. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2018, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146/107 "2018-01-07T03:16:46Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not the same actress - Mia was played by [Heike Makatsch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heike_Makatsch). Ms French was played by [Musetta Vander](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musetta_Vander). Huh. I stand corrected. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146/108 "2018-11-15T17:04:32Z")
Bumped. Keira Knightley, in a recent interview, explains why she was wearing that hat (from 6:45 to 8:23 here): ["I had a MASSIVE spot!" Keira Knightley on \*that\* hat from Love Actually. - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9chsLWA10uk) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146/109 "2018-11-15T18:00:02Z")
For those in the Phoenix area, Harkins is showing Love Actually Nov 27 as part of their Tuesday Night Classics. They are in their Christmas Movie mode. And yes, Die Hard is their choice for Tuesday Dec 25. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/love-actually-is-emma-thompsons-character-overreacting/566146.md?page=5)