Love Actually fans spot heartbreaking detail 21 years after film's release

Watching Love Actually has become a Christmas Eve tradition for me over the years. I know that some scenes haven't aged all that well (like everyone in the movie calling Natalie fat, for instance!!), but it's still a firm favourite every Christmas, along with The Holiday, of course.

But 21 years later, there's a hidden detail that many people, including myself, never noticed! We all remember the scene where Emma Thomson's character Karen secretly spies a love heart-shaped gold necklace with a ruby in her husband Harry's (Alan Rickman) jacket pocket, believing (as you would) that it was for her, only to be gifted a Joni Mitchell CD, instead.

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After realising that the necklace isn't for her, Karen retreats to her bedroom, playing the CD and crying silently.

TikToker @the_koo_koo_nest_ has now pointed out that one of the most heartbreaking moments from this scene is the fact that Karen actually wore red earrings, red lipstick and a red cardigan to match the ruby in the necklace.

"The way she matched her earrings to the necklace," the TikToker wrote. "The way she holds it together for the kids. The way she pats down the bed. I stand with Emma Thompson."

Many others, like me, had never noticed this part of the movie, with one fan writing, "But how have I never noticed the earrings."

"It's literally broken my heart to realise it!" another added.

"WAIT. What do you mean she matched her earrings?!" a third said. "How have I NEVER noticed that?"

"I've always said the earrings, lipstick and cardigan all ready to match it is the saddest part of all," one eagle-eyed fan said.

"Breaks my heart the same every year," another said.

"The earrings were the bit that sent me over the edge I swear," someone else wrote. "Every year I’m p**sed off all over again."

Emma Thompson's real-life cheating experience

Fans of Emma will likely know that the scene mirrors her real-life relationship with ex-husband Kenneth Branagh, who cheated on her with actress Helena Bonham Carter. Emma and Kenneth were married from 1989 to 1995, with Kenneth and Helena staying together until 1999.

Emma told The Telegraph, "That scene where my character is standing by the bed crying is so well known because it’s something everyone’s been through.

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"I had my heart very badly broken by Ken. So I knew what it was like to find the necklace that wasn’t meant for me. Well, it wasn’t exactly that, but we’ve all been through it."

She added, "I’ve had so much bloody practice at crying in a bedroom. Then having to go out and be cheerful, gathering up the pieces of my heart and putting them in a drawer."

Emma later told The Times of her relationship with Helena, saying, "You can’t hold on to anything like that. It’s pointless. I haven’t got the energy for it. Helena and I made our peace years and years ago."

The trio famously went on to star in several Harry Potter films together.

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