The Sad Truth Of What Happens After Love Actually Ends
Love Actually is a Christmas movie staple, right up there with Home Alone and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. With a cast of A-list stars playing out nine interconnected stories, it's definitely one film worth watching around the holidays, though it is a bit raunchier than most seasonal fare.
And, like many fan-favorite films, Love Actually has caused some viewers to wonder just what may have happened to its characters after the movie's final scenes — especially married couple Karen and Harry, who were portrayed by Emma Thompson and the late Alan Rickman. For those who may not have seen the movie in a while, here's a refresher: Despite being married to and having children with his wife, Karen, Harry has an affair with his secretary, Mia (played by Heike Makatsch). Karen finds a necklace that Harry eventually gives to Mia in his coat pocket and thinks that it's for her. Excited, she opens her Christmas gift from Harry only to realize that he instead gave her a Joni Mitchell CD and must have given the jewelry to another woman.
She later confronts her husband about the affair at their children's school play, but, at the end of the movie, Harry and Karen still appear to be together, though there is obvious distance between them.
Well, Emma Freud, script editor and wife of the movie's director Richard Curtis, shed light on the characters' romantic fate while live-tweeting a screening of Love Actually with her family in 2015, as reported by The Independent. When asked about Harry and Karen by a fan on Twitter, Freud revealed, "They stay together but home isn't as happy as it once was."
And for those questioning whether or not Harry and Mia ever actually had a full-fledged affair — the movie never showed the two of them having sex — Freud shared that they indeed did. "DEFINITELY had an affair," Freud tweeted out, adding, "I begged richard just to make it a flirtation, but no. the whole way."
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But maybe not... She also posted that, during their watching of the film, her husband had a new take on Harry and Mia's relationship. She wrote, "Richard now changing his mind and saying it was a flirtation." So, the extent of Harry and Mia's affair is whatever viewers want to make of it.
Freud also revealed that Rufus, the department store jewelry counter employee, who was played by Mr. Bean's Rowan Atkinson, was initially meant to be an angel. Freud explained that the reason his character takes so long to wrap up the gold necklace that Harry buys for Mia is because he's trying to prevent him from having an affair. "Originally Rowan's character over-wrapped the gift on purpose to stop Alan rickman being able to buy the necklace. Because he was an angel," Freud said.
Love Actually's director shared that Rufus was meant to be "a Christmas Angel," as reported by CBR. That's why he appears at the airport later on in the movie, distracting security so that Sam, played by Thomas Brodie-Sangster, can chase after his crush, Joanna (played by Olivia Olson).
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Unfortunately, Love Actually's Karen and Harry weren't the only characters to suffer a not-so-great fate. During her 2015 live-tweeting spree, Emma Freud also commented on Laura Linney's character, Sarah. As fans of the movie may remember, Sarah had a brother, Michael, who would call her often and who appeared to live in a psychiatric facility (via BuzzFeed). Sarah had a crush on her co-worker, Karl (played by Rodrigo Santoro), and was encouraged by her boss, Harry, to pursue a relationship with him. However, when Sarah and Karl finally did hit it off and she invited him into her apartment where they began getting intimate, they were interrupted by a phone call from Michael.
Though Sarah tries to focus on her time with Karl, she can't allow herself to ignore her brother's call and so she and Karl ultimately don't get together.
In response to a fan asking if Sarah and Karl ever reconnect on social media, Freud revealed that the two were just not meant to be. "Nope," she replied in a tweet. "Doomed."
Fortunately, just because Sarah doesn't end up with Karl, it doesn't mean she ends up alone, if a certain short is considered canon. In the short sequel for Love Actually created for Red Nose Day — called Red Nose Day Actually — Sarah is married to a man played by Grey's Anatomy star Patrick Dempsey and they even have a family together. So, fortunately, while Sarah had some romantic setbacks in Love Actually, she eventually finds her forever in a new man.