At the end of The Holdovers, Professor Paul Hunham lies to Dr. Woodrup and Angus Tully’s parents to stop him from being sent to a military academy. While Hunham and Tully initially had an adversarial relationship, they formed a bond over their Christmas holiday together, changing both of them forever. The film is directed by Alexander Payne from a script by David Hemingson and The Holdovers cast consists of excellent performances from Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Carrie Preston, Andrew Garman, and more.
The Holdovers is set in 1970, with Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa) planning to spend his Christmas vacation on the beach before his mother and step-father decide to leave him at Barton boarding school, so they can go on a belated honeymoon. Being stuck with the widely disliked Professor Paul Hunham (Paul Giamatti) for Christmas break is a recipe for disaster. Despite the situation, Hunham and Tully form an unlikely bond. In the end, when Angus is faced with the threat of suspension and being sent to a military academy, Hunham takes the fall, losing his own job to protect Tully.
Why Paul Hunham Lied To Prevent Angus From Getting Expelled From Barton
“Barton Men Don’t Lie” Unless It’s To Sacrifice Their Careers For Angus Tully
As a former Barton student, Hunham prizes the integrity of the institution, making him a notoriously strict teacher with famously harsh grading standards. He doesn’t even budge at the request of headmaster Dr. Hardy Woodrip (Andrew Garman), who wants the sons of some influential figures and school donors to get preferential treatment. Hunham repeatedly states “Barton men don’t lie,” yet he makes numerous exceptions to this rule for Angus, demonstrating his personal growth through the film and the beautiful bond they form.
The most notable example is at the film’s end, when he says it was his idea for Angus to visit Angus’ dad at the sanatorium, a lie that saves Angus from being sent to military academy (and potentially, eventually, Vietnam), but costs Hunham his job. The Paul Hunham introduced at the start of The Holdovers would never budge on his personal ethics to that degree, much less for one of the students, so this is a huge transformation for him.
It should be noted that, despite Angus’ discipline issues, he’s one of the few students who didn’t fail the test Hunham hands out at the start of the movie, but it’s not until their personal relationship evolves that Hunham truly shows favor to Angus. As they get to know each other more, particularly during the trip to Boston, Hunham sees himself in Tully and recognizes his potential. However, despite lying at the hospital to cover up Angus’ dislocated shoulder, celebrating Christmas together, and agreeing to travel to Boston, Hunham remains harsh towards Tully.
Hunham knows just how valuable a helping hand could be to Tully, leading him to sacrifice his career for the boy’s future.
The moment he truly begins to turn a corner is when he discovers Angus has a prescription for Librium, the same medication Hunham takes for depression. He begins to see how the ways Tully is acting out are mostly symptoms of his difficult family situation. Since similar struggles got him kicked out of Harvard, and he was only saved by a benevolent mentor from Barton, Hunham knows just how valuable a helping hand could be to Tully, leading him to sacrifice his career for the boy’s future.
How Mary Lamb Changed Angus & Paul Hunham
The Holdovers Focuses On Angus Tully And Paul Hunham, But It’s Actually About Curtis Lamb
While the main plot of The Holdovers focuses on the relationship between Paul Hunham and Angus Tully, the presence of Mary Lamb (Da’Vine Joy Randolph) is essential to establish the stakes at play for Angus’ future. Mary’s son, Curtis, was a former Barton student who didn’t come from privilege, like all the other boys at the school, because he was the son of a single black mother.
Mary stayed at Barton because it was the last place she and Curtis were together
Despite his good grades, the Lamb family couldn’t afford college, meaning Curtis couldn’t get a student deferment from the draft and was sent to Vietnam, where he was tragically killed in action. Afterward, Mary stayed at Barton because it was the last place she and Curtis were together. While this is a subplot in The Holdovers, Mary’s story is deeply moving and offers a vital reflection of what Angus’ life could look like without the opportunities he’s been wasting.
“Barton boys don’t go to Vietnam.”
“Except for Curtis Lamb.”
After his encounter with an injured Vietnam veteran at the bar, Hunham tries to make him face his privilege, saying, “Barton boys don’t go to Vietnam,” to which Tully responds, “Except for Curtis Lamb.” At the end of The Holdovers, when Hunham goes to Dr. Woodrip’s office, Mary sits outside the door to hold Tully’s hand. As the mother of the only Barton boy to go to Vietnam, she knows the stakes at play if Tully has to go to a military academy. Through his relationship with Mary and Angus, Hunham understands the risk and makes his sacrifice.
Why Paul Hunham Spits Out The Cognac After He’s Fired From Barton
That Was A Very Expensive Mouthful Of Alcohol
The first scene between Hunham and Woodrip in the headmaster’s office establishes the dichotomy between the two Barton men. Both are former students, yet Hunham is quite a bit older and was once Woodrip’s teacher. Woodrip’s office is much nicer than Hunham’s, and he has a bottle of Louis XIII cognac on his desk, a gift from the school’s board of directors worth thousands of dollars in $2023.
Woodrip urges Hunham to use gentler grading standards for the sons of some of Barton’s more influential men, which Hunham refuses to do as it would undermine the integrity of the institution, devaluing what it means to be a “Barton man.” At the end of the movie, Hunham finally learns to budge on his harsh standards, but not for one of Barton’s political elite. Instead, Hunham lies to defend Angus Tully, one of the few boys at the school to actually recognize his privileged situation.
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Having lost his job, Hunham sits at a literal crossroads as he leaves the Barton campus as it’s revealed he stole the bottle of Cognac from Woodrip’s office. Before charting his course away from Barton for the first time in his adult life, he takes a swig of the cognac and spits it out, a final sign of disrespect to the institution that shaped his previously rigid ethic. Hunham’s disregard for the Cognac’s price demonstrates his vastly differing values from the elitist world of Barton.
What Happened To Angus Tully’s Father
Angus Tully’s Father Is In A Mental Institution For His Erratic, Violent Behavior
One of the most pivotal sequences in The Holdovers is the trip to Boston, where Hunham and Tully seem to be getting along for the first time. However, while at a movie theater, Tully claims he’s going to leave for the restroom and then sneaks off. Hunham catches Tully in the act, and the boy reveals that his intent was to go visit his father, who he’d previously told Hunham was dead. Hunham assumes Tully has planned to visit a cemetery, but Tully reveals that his father is actually in a mental health facility in Boston.
This leads to one of the key differences to the real-life inspiration for The Holdovers, as Tully’s family is revealed to have been broken up by his father’s strange, erratic behavior, which had begun years prior. Angus Tully’s father was provided with medication, which apparently made matters worse, leading to the behavior becoming angry and violent. Tully’s mother was left with no choice but to check him into a mental institution, and she later explains that the father suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and early-onset dementia.
Angus Tully’s trip to visit his father goes poorly, worsening the boy’s state as he sees firsthand the condition he is in. He feels frustration towards his mother for abandoning his father and confusion and shock at how quickly a mental situation that was out of anyone’s control had drastically impacted his life and sent him on a downward spiral. Tully essentially feels like he’s been wronged by life, as he’s left without the support he needs to grow while his father is institutionalized. For the brief period of events in The Holdovers, Hunham fulfills this role.
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The Real Meaning Behind The Holdovers Ending Explained
Being A True “Barton Man” Means Recognizing You Were Born Lucky
The main plot of The Holdovers focuses on the character arcs of Paul Hunham and Angus Tully, but it’s the backdrop of Curtis Lamb and his grieving mother, Mary, that gives the story its full significance. In the first dinner scene, Hunham loses his temper at Teddy Kountze (Brady Hepner) for being “born lucky” and having no grasp of Mary’s situation. Both Hunham and Tully are troubled characters who face difficult situations, but like Kountze, they were also born lucky, although the difference is they may have a stronger appreciation for this fact.
Curtis Lamb didn’t have anyone to step in for him to give him an opportunity to avoid being drafted and sent to Vietnam. Through the friendship Angus and Paul form with each other, but also with Mary, Angus learns not to take his opportunity at Barton for granted, while Hunham learns he can use his privilege to give Angus another chance. The character arc of The Holdovers’ two male leads remains intact without Mary’s friendship in the background context of Curtis, although their presence in the story is what separates Angus Tully and Paul Hunham from Teddy Kountze, Dr. Woodrip, and the other “born lucky” Barton men.
How The Holdovers Ending Was Received
Critics Loved The Character-Driven Authenticity
The Holdovers ending has been met with widespread acclaim from critics for the most part, with many reviews celebrating the movie’s heartfelt and authentic storytelling. The ending of The Holdovers, characterized by its blend of melancholy and hope, has been particularly highlighted in reviews.
For example, Brian Tallerico of Roger Ebert observed that the film’s characters, despite being at distinct turning points in their lives, influence each other in a heartwarming and genuine manner. Talleroic pointed out that these dynamics directly lead to a conclusion that resonates with authenticity. He noted that director Alexander Payne and screenwriter David Hemingson managed to make the life lessons feel organic, avoiding reliance on predictable plot twists:
“David Hemingson’s script is about those wonderful turns in our lives when a stranger can shift us off in a new direction that we hadn’t considered and how they can come long after we think we’re done adjusting. It’s got some undeniable clichés, but Payne and his crew find a way to make the life lessons organic, refusing to build their dramedy on predictable plot twists. After all, this one is about the unpredictability of life.”
Similarly, Samuel Sewell Peterson’s review for The Film Magazine praised the ending of The Holdovers, though primarily because of its character-driven moments. Peterson did, however, point to some pacing issues which other critics have also picked up on:
“Eventually the film’s confined location and limited cast of characters opens out as our central trio’s dynamic evolves into something approaching affection, first going to a Christmas party hosted by Lydia (Carrie Preston), one of the few people who tolerates and perhaps even genuinely likes Paul, before embarking on an impromptu road trip to Boston. This final stretch of the film doesn’t feel quite as fully-formed as the lengthy time we spend at the school, and at a shade over two hours this is the point where the pacing could be tightened, but at the same time you wouldn’t want to sacrifice any of these character moments like when Mary and her younger pregnant sister (Juanita Pearl) get to be there for each other.”
In addition to the character-centered plot drawing acclaim, many critics also pointed out that the ending of The Holdovers is satisfying due to not falling into traditional Holiday movie traps. For example, Entertainment Weekly’s Maureen Lee Lenker also highlighted the The Holdovers’ ability to transcend holiday clichés, focusing instead on the loneliness of the season:
“It feels odd to call this film a Christmas movie; perhaps because it’s such an unexpected move from Payne. But it is — first, in surface-level ways, with the profusion of holiday decor in various scenes or the frequent use of traditional carols on the soundtrack. Yet, also thematically in the ways the film encapsulates the spirit of the season — how it captures the need to belong to something greater than oneself, the profusion of a sudden generosity in human nature, and the simple ways in which we can touch each other’s lives.“
Overall, the ending of The Holdovers has been received with appreciation for its heartfelt storytelling and authentic character development. This consensus underscores the movie’s ability to resonate with audiences through its genuine portrayal of human connections and personal growth.
The Holdovers
7/10
- Release Date
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November 10, 2023