According to The Beatles, love is all you need and Joe Cocker insisted love lifts us up where we belong.

In his blissfully romantic holiday comedy Love Actually, Richard Curtis sets out to prove love is everywhere.

It certainly is in the lives of nine people trying to put their lives in order as Christmas approaches.

They know only too well that 'tis the season to be jolly if you have someone special to be jolly with.

Love Actually recalls Short Cuts, Gosford Park, A Wedding and Nashville, Robert Altman's finest achievements in ensemble casting.

Curtis has assembled a most stellar and talented cast to bring his nine interwoven vignettes to life.

Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman are the upper-class couple Karen and Harry. They have two children, a beautiful home and a comfortable marriage until Karen begins to suspect Harry is falling for the advances of his sexy secretary Mia (Heike Makatsch).

When Karen finally accepts she has been betrayed, Thompson's breakdown in private and then her attempts to keep a brave public face are devastating.

Laura Linney has equally poignant moments as Harry's coworker Sarah, who must choose between love and duty.

The genius of both the performances, and of Curtis' writing is that there is genuine humour even in such tragic lives.

The same is true of the predicament of Karen's longtime friend Daniel (Liam Neeson).

Recently widowed, Daniel discovers his stepson Sam (Thomas Sangster) is practically inconsolable.

He understandably assumes it is because of the death of the boy's mother, only to learn the child is desperately in love with the most unattainable girl in his elementary school.

How father and son work together to achieve the impossible, is charming and heartwarming beyond words.

Curtis demonstrates just how devious he can be when he shows how the marriage of Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Juliet (Keira Knightley) impacts on Peter's best friend Mark (Andrew Lincoln).

Things are definitely not what they seem to be.

Curtis is particularly witty when he explores the coy courtship of a pair of porn stars and the awkward relationship of the English writer Jamie (Colin Firth) and his Portuguese housekeeper Aurelia (Lucia Moniz).

The humour gets broader with Karen's brother (Hugh Grant), who is the newly-elected British PM.

Not only does he have to deal with the imposing and demanding American president (Billy Bob Thornton), but with his budding lust for his secretary Natalie (Martine McCutcheon).

More farcical, is the self-styled stud Colin (Kris Marshall) who believes hundreds of American women will welcome him into their hearts and beds if only he can cross the Atlantic.

Through the raunchy aging rocker Billy Mack (Bill Nighy), Curtis shows there is an enormous difference between lust and love, but not that much of a gap.

Love Actually is a totally bewitching comedy that has as much to say to the intellect as it does to the heart.

It boasts some of the year's finest writing, acting and directing.

(This film is rated 14-A)

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