There is something about the holiday season that makes relationships seem vital to overall happiness. For the other eleven months of the year, singles everywhere focus their attention on school, work, and other loved ones, but the winter holidays heighten the deceiving solitude of singledom. Being alone doesn't necessarily mean you're lonely, but Christmas lights and winter decor on family homes wreck singles' composures everywhere. And that's where Nancy Meyers's The Holiday focuses its story. Some will be quick to dismiss it as another ordinary romantic comedy, but I'd like to invite cynics to take a moment to consider the unique allure of Amanda and Iris's story.
The Holiday begins with Kate Winslet narrating as one of the protagonists, Iris. Love can be faded, lost, or fleeting, but her experience with love has been the cruel unrequited kind. The irony fueling Iris's character is that she has to think about love often, because she writes the wedding column for The Telegraph. During her workplace's holiday party, the audience is introduced to her love interest, Jasper. Charming and suave, it's easy to see why Iris could be infatuated with him, but his bombshell announcement of his engagement to a fellow coworker ruins Iris. She retreats to her cottage in Surrey and she cries in defeat, because she can't get over someone who doesn't love her.
Meanwhile in Los Angeles, Cameron Diaz stars as Amanda. Amanda is a successful trailer producer for Hollywood films. She has the house, career, and a seemingly perfect relationship with a movie composer. However, when the audience first sees her, she is caught in a fight with him, because she thinks he's cheating on her. He dodges her accusations and attacks her with his own criticisms; he thinks she's a perfectionist with a superiority complex and static emotional ineptness. He points out that she can't cry, so she must not care. Amanda, defeated, tells him it's over and asks for the truth, "Did you sleep with her?" Figuring he has nothing to lose, he admits it.
Iris and Amanda are in their own respective rock bottoms because of love, and it's that overwhelming feeling of emotional devastation that compels them to switch houses on either sides of the planet. Amanda and Iris agree to house-swap for two weeks to create some distance between them and love sicknesses, but neither could have imagined that they would find their remedies during their vacations.
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For anyone who has ever felt disappointed in their relationship, this movie can resonate for a multitude of reasons that can't all be noticed upon the first viewing. These terrific subtleties are driven home by a talented cast. The ensemble cast includes Jack Black and Jude Law in addition to Diaz and Winslet, and a scene-stealing performance by Eli Wallach as Arthur Abbott. These five actors bring to life characters that could be incredibly simple, but their complexities resonate and stand out during their interactions with one another as they explore their love lives in the holiday season.
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