The Holiday Film Analysis

The Holiday is a 2006 romantic comedy movie. It takes place in two completely opposite settings, one being England and the other, Los Angeles, California. These two totally unique places give the two main characters a change of scenery and a change of familiar faces for their holiday getaway.

The first character introduced is a woman named Iris Simpkins who works as a column editor in London. She has fallen in love with a man by the name of Jasper Bloom until she finds out that Jasper is soon to be married to another woman. This startling news saddens Iris. The other main character is a woman named Amanda Woods who lives the luxurious life in a stunning house in Los Angeles. Amanda spends majority of her time working at her job as

a movie trailer producer. Amanda lives with her boyfriend named Ethan Ebbers until she comes to find that Ethan has been unfaithful to Amanda and has been sleeping with his secretary.
Iris and Amanda are distraught and emotionally drained, so they both decide they need a vacation over the holidays. Although the two have never met, they come across each other online and decide to switch homes for the holiday season for some peace and quiet. Iris travels to Amanda’s ostentatious home in Los Angeles, while Amanda gets to experience the snowy countryside in Iris’s cozy cottage.
Both looking for some time alone, the two women unexpectedly fall in love with people they have just met. Amanda meets Iris’ charming brother named Graham, who is not only a book editor, but also a widower with a family to love and share. Although this came as a major surprise to Amanda, the two fall deeply in love with each other. Iris also finds a significant other named Miles, only after she develops a strong friendship and life-long friend with Arthur, a ninety-year-old next door neighbor. In the end, both Amanda and Graham, and Iris and Miles celebrate the New Year’s together.
Music plays a significant role in this movie. It gives feeling and meaning to certain scenes and definitely portrays the holiday spirit. Majority of the music in this movie is composed by a man named Hans Zimmer. Zimmer is a German composer as well as a record producer. Over the course of his career, he has composed music for over 150 films.
Background music reflects or foreshadows the mood of a particular scene. One of many examples is when Iris discovers that Jasper is engaged to be married. This is a very melancholic scene with violins, piano, and guitar all playing in the background. Common instruments for sad, gloomy scenes include the cello, English horn, oboe, flute, and occasionally the guitar.

Another example is when Miles and Iris are in the movie store when Miles picks up the movie called “The Mission” and says, “It changed my world” and then turns around to see his girlfriend, Maggie walking outside with another man. The sad music in the background foreshadows what is to come in the next few seconds. Maggie leaves Miles broken-hearted and he returns with Iris to Amanda’s house and falls to the couch saying, “Why do I always fall for the bad girl?”
The scene of Iris and Miles in the movie store foreshadowed the next scene of Maggie cheating on Miles and how that scene changes the rest of the movie.

Source music is music that is playing during the movie for characters to hear, but can also be heard for viewers during the movie. One example of this is when Iris wakes up at Amanda’s home, and turns on the radio to the song “Are You Gonna Be My Girl.” She dances and plays the air guitar in bed as she listens to the song until the phone rings. Another example is when Amanda had been drinking and turns on the radio and jams out to the song “Mr. Brightside” by the Killers.

This movie does an adequate job of combining famous, well-known Christmas songs along with other various jingles and melodies. These Christmas songs are ones that most people often hear and can relate to. One example is “Santa Baby.” This song plays when Amanda enters Graham’s home all dressed up and finds out that Graham has two children. Another example is “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”, when Iris is crying back at home and tries to kill herself by inhaling the gas burner. One last example is “Winter Wonderland”, which plays when Iris is taking a taxi to Amanda’s house and Amanda is on her way to Iris’s

cottage.
People may not realize it but music plays a crucial role in movies, and often times, viewers just recognize it as something normal. Music emphasizes critical periods in the movie such as a romantic relationship or a tense situation. Music can also be connected with a particular character. It can bring out a certain feature or mannerism for that specific character. Music plays various roles but almost always connects the audience emotionally to a scene.