Love Actually Cliffhangers Finally Answered-Love Actually Writer Answers Questions

last updated 30 July 2021

Every time someone tries to convince me that Love Actually is just a bunch of Christmas fluff, I direct them to the scene in which Emma Thompson delivers an Oscar-worthy performance as a woman (Karen) trying to hold it together on Christmas when she learns her husband (Harry) bought a necklace for his very forward assistant and...is probably cheating on her.

She handles the whole thing with grace, confronting him and then returning her attention to her children, but we get very little explanation from him.

The ending is intentionally ambiguous, and because Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson are such great actors, it's impossible to tell whether or not they stay together. Karen greets Harry at the airport in a cold but civil manner that seems to imply they are separated. But then she says they are going "home," implying they are still married partners. Are their smiles strained because they're still trying to make it work, or is it because they broke up and are trying to remain cordial? Her scarf says married but her fabulous earrings say single. WHICH ONE IS IT?

Every year, my friends and I scrutinize this scene, and now the film's script editor Emma Freud finally live tweeted an answer at a midnight screening of the film with writer/director Richard Curtis:

@JPerlstrom they stay together but home isn't as happy as it once was.December 13, 2015

Freud also ended the debate on whether Harry actually cheated or simply intended to cheat:

@carlotta429 DEFINITELY had an affair. i begged richard just to make it a flirtation, but no. the whole way.December 13, 2015

More sad news: Sarah and Karl never ended up getting together...which, WHYYYY:

@debbiejoanne20 @RadioTimes nope. doomed.December 13, 2015

our shenanigans livetweeting midnight screening of LoveActually in an empty cinema last night made the @RadioTimes https://t.co/AO959F0qHUDecember 13, 2015

Here are some happier revelations:

The reason Jamie is called Jamie is because that's the name of Richard Curtis's brother.

Richard only called colin firth's character 'jamie' so the kids could say 'I hate uncle jamie'. His brother is called jamie. #LoveActuallyDecember 13, 2015

Her mom was the housekeeping in the first scene with Hugh Grant, and her kids were the second lobster and spiderman in the school Christmas performance.

AND THIS IS JAKE. I gave birth to him. #LoveActually pic.twitter.com/4aEslmgA6EDecember 13, 2015

Remember the housekeeper in the hugh grant arriving at Downing Street line up? That was my mum. And still is. #loveactuallyDecember 13, 2015

When the children song at the school concert... My daughter is the second lobster! The. Second. Lobster. My. Daughter. #LoveActuallyDecember 13, 2015

People, Coat, Collar, Suit, Formal wear, Interaction, Dress shirt, Blazer, Tie, Conversation,

January Jones came up with half of her hilarious lines.

January jones wrote half of her lines. She was sooooo funny when we filmed that scene. #LoveActuallyDecember 13, 2015

Rowan Atkinson was originally supposed to be an angel who was intentionally wrapping the present slowly to stop Harry from cheating on his wife.

He was meant to be an angel but we cut that bit in the edit. Thank goodness. #LoveActuallyDecember 13, 2015

(Which, by the way explains why he was at the airport to distract the gate attendant (opens in new tab), allowing Sam to sneak past and profess his love to Joanna!)

Joanna was actually singing that mindblowing rendition of "All I Want for Christmas."

Girl who does the Mariah carey song was actually singing even though everyone thinks she is miming to Mariah. On Disney channel now.December 13, 2015

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My writing has regularly appeared in The New York Times, The Paris Review, Salon, VICE, Guernica, The New York Observer, BuzzFeed, Cosmopolitan, Seventeen, Esquire, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, and many more publications.

I was previously the Senior News Editor at Best Life Online and the Viral Content Editor in the Newsroom of Hearst Digital Media. My portfolio consists of a vast and diverse body of work that includes personal essays, lifestyle articles, breaking news posts, and viral content. My areas of expertise, however, are Russia, sex and relationships, and mental wellness.