10 Greatest Christmas Movie Villains Ever

Alan Rickman hates Christmas. The majority of 2003’s Love Actually is a schmaltzy but charming rom com in which unlucky Londoners finally find true connection over the holiday period. Rickman plays Harry, an executive married to Emma Thompson’s Karen. He doles out wise advice to his employees, and seems to be an all round good egg.

Laura Linney’s story is a downer, but the real gut punch of the film is the reveal that Harry has been conducting an affair with his gleefully malevolent secretary - and that Karen is all too aware of this. The moment in which Karen opens a box expecting jewellery and find a Joni Mitchell CD (which she doubtless already owns) is quietly explosive.

Thompson does terrific work as she takes herself out of the room to briefly break down over her husband’s infidelity before putting her game face on. Rickman is typically charming in the role, but that reveal turns the character on his head.

There’s no comeuppance for Harry, at least not within the time frame of the film. The relationship is left to fester, with both parties in the knowledge that something’s gone wrong, but they can’t say anything about it. Hey - that’s Christmas!