Heartbreaking lesbian scene cut from Love Actually would have changed the film
The deleted scene featured as a bonus on the film's DVD
Ah Love Actually, a film considered to be a Christmas classic by many.
As the nights grow longer and the temperature drops, dozens of people look forward to curling up and watching the drama of Richard Curtis festive romcom.
Most fans will already be aware of the main plot points – Hugh Grant as Prime Minister, a love triangle featuring Keira Knightley, Andrew Lincoln and Chiwetel Ejiofor or Emma Thompson's devastating discovery that her on-screen husband (Alan Rickman) is having an affair – but were you aware there was another heartbreaking storyline which ended up on the cutting room floor?
In the previous drafts of Love Actually, Curtis included a romance between Anne Reid and Frances de la Tour, which was linked to Thompson's character Karen.
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In previous drafts of the film, Reid is introduced as the headmistress of the school which Karen's children attend.
Initially appearing stern to the children, it's later revealed the headmistress has a terminally ill partner, Geraldine (de la Tour).
In the pair's first scene, the headmistress is seen returning home to a bedridden Geraldine.
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The women then share numerous jokes with each other before Reid's character heads off to cook them dinner.
However, when we next return to the couple, it's revealed that Geraldine had died just before Christmas, with Karen sharing some words of condolence to her children's headteacher on behalf of all of the parents at the school.
Watch the deleted scene and Curtis' comments on the storyline below:
Why was the LGBTQ+ storyline cut from Love Actually?
Curtis would address the scene in a bonus clip from the DVD, revealing that he was 'really sorry to lose' Reid and de la Tour's storyline from the final film.
"The idea was meant to be that you just casually meet this very stern headmistress, but later on in the film we suddenly fell in with her and you realise that, no matter how unlikely it seems, any character you come across in life has their own complicated tale of love," he said.
Meanwhile, de la Tour has also addressed the axing of her and Reid's storyline, revealing that she found the decision 'odd' in a 2022 interview with The Independent.
"We had a lovely scene," the Enola Holmes star said.
"And I think it was the only gay scene. It’s odd that they cut it. Maybe it was too dark to bring into it. Because it ended up being quite a light and fluffy film, didn’t it?
"At least [Richard Curtis] wrote to me and said, ‘We’re terribly sorry but it’s got to be cut.'"
Brenna Cooper