All You Need is Love, Actually

When we were but youngsters, before the holiday season of 2003, we lived in a gloomy world where the sun drooped in the sky and love was defunct. And then, Love Actually floated into our lives. It entered graciously, with its attractive ensemble cast, heavy British accents and predictable romantic-comedy script. It said, “I am Love Actually. Love me.” And, despite ourselves, love it we did.

Hannah K. Ahn ’08, however, loves it a bit more than the rest of us. She and a posse of other Love Actually appreciators have established an unnamed, informal group that, according to Ahn, does not even consider itself an entity per se. Its purpose, though, is clear—to watch Love Actually repeatedly during the holiday season.

“Whenever we’re bored, we tend to watch it,” Ahn says. The group’s most devoted members indulge freely—in two weeks time, Ahn herself has had a quadruple helping. But the allegiance does not stop there. In addition to boughs of holly and a real Christmas tree, Ahn and her roommates decided to use Love Actually as a decorative theme. Any passerby will see their door draped with a red ribbon—“like the cover of the DVD,” Ahn explains—as well as a quote from the movie.

During a screening, Ahn says there tends to be “lots of girlish squealing and laughing”—completely understandable, she says, since “the movie just makes you giddy.”

However, Megan E. Galbreth ’08, Ahn’s roommate and fellow Love Actually aficionado, derives more than giddiness from the film. The idea of “finding love all around” strikes a harmonious chord with Galbreth. “It’s just relaxing to watch,” she says.

And yet, a cloud looms over the picturesque horizon. After the holidays, the roommates will uproot the Christmas tree and unfurl the Love Actually ribbon from the walls. But Ahn and Galbreth know how to move on—Lord of the Rings is about to be released on DVD. And with a new movie comes a new challenge, at least for Ahn and her fellow movie-lovers. “[We’ll] see if we can sit through the 14-hour marathon.” Poignantly and somewhat disappointedly, Ahn adds, “I don’t think we’ll be decorating for that.”