Winter Films - 9

This week we hunker down with another winter winner—the goal being to inspire you to write your own winter film—and, as promised last week, it’s another rom-com: The Holiday [2006].

This movie is my guilty pleasure. Strike that. Why guilty? Why am I supposed to feel guilty for liking this film? Sure, it’s lightweight. Sure, it’s a bit of fluff. And yeah, it didn’t win any awards. But it’s fun—and it’s set in winter… well, half of it is.

And that’s something that makes this film unique—the contrast between the two settings. Because the film follows two women who exchange houses for the last two weeks in December. One of the locations is in Surrey, in the countryside not too far from London, England. And yes, it’s cold there. Seriously cold and snowy. But the second location is in Los Angeles, where the sun doesn’t stop shining.

One of the cool things about this film as that Iris, who lives in Surrey, and is therefore kind of dragged down by the winter weather, lucks out in the house switch and gets to go to sunny L.A.—so she glories in it. And the L.A. native, Amanda, gets to go to frozen Surrey, which pretty much fits her icy mood.

The other thing that both women have in common? They’ve both broken up with guys and are trying to get past it… so their hearts are a bit chilly if you will.

We use the word “cold” to describe a character when they’re hard-hearted, unemotional, or perhaps unwilling to BE emotional. And both of these women have a bit of coldness in them—Iris because she’s shut down after being so traumatized by a guy she’s loved but who doesn’t really love her back, and Amanda because she worries she can’t love, can’t really BE emotional.

To live in winter, like Iris, and to be able to escape it, and to live in warmth, like Amanda, and be able to escape it, to visit winter if you will. A new experience for both women. A change.

And that’s what the holiday is all about—change. Maybe, like Amanda, you can change your inability to love into an ability to open your heart and accept deep feelings. Maybe, like Iris, you can break away from an unhealthy, obsessive relationship, and trust yourself to love someone who loves you back.

Characters change, seasons change. Ask yourself if you can USE the season to tell us something about your main character. That happens a lot in The Holiday and it adds texture as well as visual interest to the film. And both of the locations —the houses the women exchange—are unique and inviting.

And that brings me to another thing I learned from The Holiday—location can make all the difference, for your characters and for your story, so be sure about where you take your characters, be sure about what surrounds them. And think about how the chill of winter can impact, and therefore reveal, something about the true heart of your characters.

Next week, it’s off to explore an even broader comedy… that’s tons of fun.

Copyright © Diane Lake

20Jan19

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com