Love Actually by Richard Curtis is a reflection of living and loving in different relationships during the month leading up to the beloved holiday by many: Christmas. Ten separate stories portrayed by a prominently British cast come together to cover the topics of love, lust, family, and heartbreak through a rom-com that can be enjoyed and empathized by many kinds of people of almost all ages. From a man celebrating the holidays with his son while mourning his wife to a man deciding between his wife and his secretary, or from a man falling for a woman in another country to a man traveling to America just for a one-night stand, director Richard Curtis expresses aspects of relationships that we can all connect to and come together during this movie in the holiday season. Some of my favorite actors, such as Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, and Colin Firth make their performances in this movie one to remember and one that I will return to every holiday season. Emma Thompson truly steals the show with her heartbreaking expression of a woman who has lost the love and trust of her husband to a younger woman.

This heartwarming, tear-jerker absolutely deserves a 9.5/10 for its beautiful true to life portrayals and its performances that do not fail to entrance audiences of all sorts.