The Holdovers – study guide

About this resource

This is a free resource produced by Garry Westmore from ACMI Education, with copy-editing and contributions made by Dr Susan Bye. It has been produced to assist teachers and students in their study of the film as part of Unit 3 or Unit 4 VCE English and EAL.

In each section, you will find links to further reading, and questions for analysis.

Teachers: consider bringing in your students for a screening + lecture on the film. Sessions are available for English & EAL.

Introduction to the film

The Holdovers is a 2023 comedy-drama, written by David Hemingson and directed by Alexander Payne. It stars the well-known and Oscar-nominated Paul Giamatti (Professor Paul Hunham), Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Mary Lamb), as well as newcomer Dominic Sessa (Angus Tully) in his first film.

Set in an exclusive New England boarding school, The Holdovers explores the friendship that grows between a curmudgeonly history teacher Paul Hunham, his intelligent but troublesome (and troubled) student Angus Tully, and the school’s cafeteria manager Mary Lamb, who is grieving her son’s death. When staff and students leave for the Christmas break, these three disparate characters and the janitor Danny are the only ones left behind in the empty school.

As the holiday progresses, an unlikely connection develops between the three central characters. As their relationship grows, the narrative expands out from the walls of the school, first into the local town and then to Boston, symbolising the characters’ widening perspectives and building to a conclusion that suggests the possibility of new beginnings.

The film was a critical success and was nominated for several Academy Awards including Best Actor (Paul Giamatti), Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. Da’Vine Joy Randolph won Best Supporting Actress for her nuanced and moving portrayal of Mary.