LOVE ACTUALLY | Specal screening with MINI Inchcape Poznań

If that line-up isn't impressive enough, we have Hugh Grant portraying the British Prime Minister, dancing through Downing Street to The Pointer Sisters’ song Jump. The film also features cameos from comedian Rowan Atkinson and model Claudia Schiffer, who was reportedly paid a record £200,000 for less than a minute of screen time.

Christmas is approaching, and London is awash with festive preparations and romantic complications. Forbidden love, love at first sight, friendship above all else, infidelity, youthful infatuation and family ties – love takes many forms, and every character is searching for it in one way or another. Harry and Karen’s long-standing marriage is put to the test by his seductive secretary. On his very first day in office, the new Prime Minister falls for a member of his staff. A betrayed writer retreats to the south of France, where he meets a Portuguese woman who does not speak his language. A widower tries to help his stepson cope with the loss of his mother – and win the attention of the prettiest girl at school. Sarah feels responsible for her mentally ill brother and cannot bring herself to confess her feelings for a colleague. 

Altogether, LOVE ACTUALLY weaves ten stories into one; two of them were originally conceived as separate films before their shared themes helped shape Curtis’s ensemble Christmas romance.

Off screen, we are driven by much the same desire to love and be loved. Richard Curtis, the screenwriter behind such comedy hits as FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL (1994) and NOTTING HILL (1999), once again taps into something universal. Add the absurdity of British humour and a Christmas atmosphere refreshingly free of sentimentality, and you have the recipe for a festive classic. Americans have IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946); in Britain, Christmas crackers go off as the characters of LOVE ACTUALLY reunite at Heathrow Airport.

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Text: Paula Apanowicz