Richard Curtis’ Love Actually is one of those films that managed to maintain its popularity since it was released. Indeed it is perhaps better thought of now by its legion of fans than it was on its initial release.

Richard Curtis’ film’s ensemble structure, featuring numerous different storylines meant it was almost certain quite a lot of material would get left on the cutting room floor. As the DVD special features show, that included a lesbian storyline featuring Anne Reid as a headmistress with a sick female lover, played by Frances de la Tour.

Curtis comments, “The idea was meant to be that you just casually met this very sort of stern headmistress… Later on in the film … we suddenly fell in with this headmistress and you realize no matter how unlikely it seems, that any character you come across in life has their own complicated tale of love.”

The writer director says he was sorry to lose the storyline, but it appears it was decided it didn’t feel it fitted the final edit. Even though Reid’s character is linked to the other storylines by the fact she runs the school Emma Thompson’s son attends, she wasn’t seen in the movie, let alone her partner.

Take a look at some of the deleted scenes and Curtis’ thoughts on them below. [Read more…]