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A warmly lit paper cottage stands beside a snowy lane, with a blue suitcase at its green garden gate and open snowy fields beneath a deep blue sky.

Christmas-adjacent · 2006

The Holiday

52/100Festive FactorWhy it scores 52 ↓
UK certificate 12A136 min
Comedy · Romance

A cottage fantasy first and a romance second, and it knows it.

Rent or buy · Prime Video, Rakuten TV and more →
Plan this film night ↓Can the kids watch? ↓
Explore this film 11 sections

The CineClaus Christmas score

Festive Factor

Christmas in good measure.

Two paper elves inspect a miniature snowy cottage in a warmly lit workshop, one holding a magnifying glass above its roof. A tiny blue suitcase stands by the gate.

A little magic in the making.

Five ingredients make the Festive Factor.
Open an ingredient to find out more.

Christmas in the storyChristmas is the deadline.15/30

What we ask: Take Christmas out. Does the plot survive? Worth up to 30 of the 100 points.

A world dressed for ChristmasVisibly Christmas for most of it.15/20

What we ask: How much of the running time is visibly Christmas? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

The little seasonal details6 of the 10 kinds of Christmas icon we count turn up on screen.9/15

What we ask: How many kinds of Christmas icon turn up on screen: trees, lights, snow, carols and the rest? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

A Christmas heartHow far the ending rests on goodwill, family and belief: partly.10/20

What we ask: Does the ending depend on what Christmas means: goodwill, family, redemption, belief? Worth up to 20 of the 100 points.

A returning traditionNiche at Christmas (under 25,000).3/15

What we ask: Is it actually watched at Christmas in the UK? Worth up to 15 of the 100 points.

90/100

Cosiness Rating Rating

Warm in tone. Mild threat. A happy ending.

How we score →
What do these scores mean?

Festive Factor measures how Christmassy a film is. Five ingredients add up to 100: story (30), setting (20), seasonal details (15), emotional heart (20) and returning tradition (15).

Cosiness is a separate score for warmth of tone, sense of safety, visual comfort, a reassuring ending and how easily you can settle into it.

How the Festive Factor works →
Your next film night

Where to watch

United KingdomChecked

Prime Video

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The Holiday · Rental and purchase cost extra, separately from membership.

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Streaming changes constantly and we cannot promise it is still right - check the service before you settle in. Streaming availability information provided by Streaming Availability API by Movie of the Night (opens in a new tab). Sky and Rakuten TV data by JustWatch.

The story

About The Holiday

An English newspaper columnist nursing an unrequited obsession and a Los Angeles trailer producer fresh out of a bad relationship swap houses for the Christmas fortnight, sight unseen. She lands in a glassy Californian villa, he lands in a small cottage in the Surrey lanes, and each falls in unexpectedly with someone local. Nancy Meyers wrote and directed.

The CineClaus verdict

A cottage fantasy first and a romance second, and it knows it.

The lanes and the snowed-in gate do more emotional work than either plot strand manages. Long, comfortable, entirely predictable, and much better company than that description makes it sound.

Half the country has spent a December quietly wondering what that cottage would cost. Best watched in the flat stretch between Christmas and New Year, lights off, something to eat.

The family desk

Can the kids watch?

12A

Our take: teens and up. Nothing graphic, but it is two hours of adult relationships and younger children will be gone inside twenty minutes.

BBFC advice: Infrequent strong language, moderate sex references.

Content advice & accessibility
Where the advice comes from
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC).
Our age guidance
Editorial, separate from the official 12A certificate, and never looser than it.
A first look

Watch the trailer

Official trailer from Sony Pictures Entertainment.

A snowy paper lane curves between warmly lit buildings towards a church tower. A blue suitcase stands outside an ivy-covered cottage behind a green gate.

Trailer

The Holiday

Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab)Nothing from YouTube loads until you press play.
The people behind the film

Cast and crew

The faces in front of the camera, and the people who brought the story to life.

Main cast

In billing order
Close portrait of Cameron Diaz smiling, with red lipstick, hair tied up, in a navy cardigan over a white top.Cameron Diazas Amanda
Head and shoulders photograph of Kate Winslet with wavy blonde hair and gold hoop earrings, wearing a black jacket over a white collared shirt, in front of a blue backdrop.Kate Winsletas Iris
A man in a grey pinstripe suit and open-necked white shirt, one hand in his pocket, standing in front of a dark blue sponsor wall at a film festival.Jude Lawas Graham
Head and shoulders photograph of a man with brown hair in a grey jacket and purple tie, signing autographs outdoors at an evening event.Jack Blackas Miles
Eli Wallachas Arthur Abbott

Behind the camera

Directed by
Nancy Meyers
Original score
Hans Zimmer smiling slightly, in a blue checked jacket over a black top, seated by a large window.Hans Zimmer
Writing & production credits
Writer
Nancy Meyers
Producers
Nancy Meyers
Bruce A. Block
Photo credits

Portraits via Wikimedia Commons, each under its own licence, approved for this page by a person. Sources and full photographer credits:

Cameron Diaz · https://www.flickr.com/photos/greg2600 · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Kate Winslet · Colleen Sturtevant · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab).

Jude Law · Adam Chitayat · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 4.0 (opens in a new tab).

Jack Black · Eva Rinaldi · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab).

Nancy Meyers · thedemonhog · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Hans Zimmer · ColliderVideo . Uploader cropped. · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY 3.0 (opens in a new tab).

Keep the Christmas feeling

Music & soundtrack

That tune you recognised. That score you loved. Take a little of the film into the rest of your Christmas.

The original score album, track by track.

Behind the music. Hans Zimmer composed the score.

About this music list

These are the songs and soundtrack we hold for the film, not a complete cue sheet, and they give no scene timings. Album track lists and durations come from MusicBrainz. Spotify and Apple Music links open the matched recordings; links marked Search open a search on that service. Album covers are each release's own, from the Cover Art Archive, credited under the cover.

wikidata.org ↗ (opens in a new tab) MusicBrainz ↗ (opens in a new tab)

Step into the story

Filming locations

The real places behind The Holiday. Choose one to explore.

Select a place to explore.

Find it on the mapShere, Surrey

© OpenStreetMap contributors (opens in a new tab)

Open larger map ↗ (OpenStreetMap, opens in a new tab)

Map shows the selected place. Drag to explore; use + and − to zoom.

Choose your next scene

Photographs of the real places

There’s more behind the film.
Explore the next place.

Photo credits & location sources

These are photographs of the places, not film stills. Dates vary; photographs do not show current conditions or guarantee access.

Shere, Surrey · Colin Smith · Source image (opens in a new tab) · CC BY-SA 2.0 (opens in a new tab) · wikidata.org (opens in a new tab)

Los Angeles, California · wikidata.org (opens in a new tab)

Map pins mark the place, not a camera position or a route. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), including any pin positions read from OpenStreetMap.

A little more The Holiday

Film facts &
behind the scenes

For the fans who stay after the credits.

Movie magic

The English cottage was built from scratch in a field

Nancy Meyers could not find a real cottage that looked the way she wanted, so the production rented a field in Surrey and had one built. The exterior was shot there in winter, and the interiors were filmed in Los Angeles about three months later.

Read the story
On your next watchHow the snug rooms inside the cottage compare with the weather outside the windows.

Source: Grazia, Jude Law on filming ↗ (opens in a new tab)

And at a glance

Releases and certificates
: In cinemas. UK and Ireland cinema release, the same day as the US.
: In cinemas (US).
Sources & a note on these facts

Each production story is linked to its source, in our own words. Ending details stay behind a spoiler reveal.

Good to know

Questions about The Holiday

Who directed The Holiday?

The Holiday was written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers, with Hans Zimmer composing the score.

When was The Holiday released in the UK?

It reached UK cinemas on 8 December 2006.

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