Nobody likes teacher Paul Hunham (Giamatti) not his students, not his fellow faculty, not the headmaster, who all find his pomposity and rigidity exasperating. With no family and nowhere to go over Christmas holiday in 1970, Paul remains at school to supervise students unable to journey home. After a few days, only one student holdover remains, a trouble-making 18-year-old named Angus. A good student whose bad behaviour always threatens to get him expelled. Joining Paul and Angus is head cook Mary (Randolph) an African American woman who caters to sons of privilege and whose own son was recently lost in Vietnam. These three very different shipwrecked people form an unlikely Christmas family sharing comic misadventures during two very snowy weeks in New England. The real journey is how they help one another understand that they are not beholden to their past, they can choose their own futures.

The film was named one of the top 10 films of 2023 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute, and has received many other accolades, including two wins at the Golden Globe Awards; five nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture; and seven nominations at the British Academy Film Awards, including Best Film.

Trivia

Even though the movie features a heavy film look reminiscent of the 1970s, it was entirely shot digitally on the ARRI Alexa Mini. All the hallmarks of celluloid film, like the film grain, halation, dirt, and gate weave, were added in post-production.