Happy First Day of Fall! Reminiscing on the changing seasons scene in Notting Hill

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Today, September 23, 2023, is the Autumn Equinox 🍂 … and Fall is definitely in the air as I woke up to about 65 degrees this morning. Autumn is my favorite season as I just LOVE the crisp Fall air and somehow it always makes me think of Notting Hill‘s evocative changing-seasons scene through Portobello market. I featured it back in 2010 (linked below), but y’know what, even 24 years after the film’s release in 1999, I still can’t find a more perfect seasonal-change sequence.

Per IMDb, the long shot where Hugh Grant‘s William Thacker walks through Notting Hill’s famous market during summer, fall, winter, and spring was actually four different shots, all filmed on the same day. CGI morphed Grant seamlessly from one shot to the next. So I think it warrants an encore here on FlixChatter, and I found a better video on Vimeo:

Directed by Roger Michell and written by Richard Curtis, Notting Hill is one of my fave rom-coms of all time that I still rewatch it from time to time. This scene in particular is just brilliant in showing the passage of time but also a sentimental but fun way to evoke Thacker’s broken heart over losing his movie star love Anna Scott (Julia Roberts). As they often say in England, this scene is an absolute classic!

Scene Spotlight: Changing seasons – Notting Hill

7 thoughts on “Happy First Day of Fall! Reminiscing on the changing seasons scene in Notting Hill”

  1. I’m not a fan of Richard Curtis in some of his work as I tend to think he’s overrated except when it comes to Mr. Bean. Still, I do love Notting Hill and that scene is a classic.

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    1. The director is Roger Michell actually, Curtis is the writer. In any case, I happen to love Crutis’ work, his brand of humor and romance resonate with me so I don’t think he’s overrated. Even his early work in The Vicar of Dibley is hilarious!

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