Bagaimana jika dua orang wanita ingin melepaskan diri dari rasa patah hati, lalu saling bertukar rumah selama dua minggu? Apa yang akan terjadi dengan kehidupan mereka?
Columbia Pictures dan Universal Pictures berkolaborasi membuat sebuah film komedi roman yang berjudul The Holiday (2006). Film berdurasi 2 jam 12 menit ini dirilis tanggal 8 Desember 2006 di Amerika menjelang hari
Natal
dan tanggal 14 Februari 2007 di Indonesia menjelang hari Kasih Sayang.
Film garapan sutradara dan penulis naskah Nancy Meyers (Something’s Gotta Give, What Women Want) ini berkisah tentang Iris Simpkins (Kate Winslet), seorang kolumnis pernikahan pada Daily Telegraph Newspaper di Inggris, jatuh cinta kepada rekan kerjanya yang akan menikah dengan wanita lain. Cintanya bertepuk sebelah tangan. Sementara itu, di
Los Angeles
, Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz), pemilik sebuah perusahaan advertising yang sering membuat trailer film, baru saja berpisah dengan kekasihnya yang mengaku berselingkuh. Kepatah hatiannya memaksanya ingin segera menjauh dari
Hollywood
.
Ingin sembunyi dari masalah yang mereka hadapi, keduanya lantas mencari program pertukaran rumah di sebuah website di internet dan sepakat untuk mengikuti program itu selama dua minggu. Aku tidak dapat membayangkan bagaimana dua wanita yang berjarak 6000 mil dan belum bertemu ini bisa saling percaya untuk menukar rumah mereka, meskipun hanya dalam dua minggu saja. Aku dapat melihat betapa bahagianya seorang Iris yang berasal dari sebuah
kota
kecil Surrey di Inggris, ketika datang ke
kota
besar seperti
Los Angeles
. Suka cita di wajahnya dan binar-binar di matanya sungguh menyenangkan untuk ditonton. Dan aku dapat melihat bagaimana pertukaran rumah ini bergulir menjadi kejutan yang tidak dapat dibayangkan semula oleh keduanya. Di Surrey, Amanda bertemu dengan kakaknya Iris, yaitu Graham (Jude Law), sementara di
California
, Iris bertemu dengan seorang komposer film bernama Miles (Jack Black).
+++++++++++++
Film ini bercerita tentang cinta, kehidupan dan keberanian untuk berubah. Seringkali yang terjadi dengan kita semua adalah ketidakmampuan untuk bergeser dari zona kenyamanan kita. Hal pertama yang sering dilakukan oleh kebanyakan orang adalah berpelukan dengan kesedihan. Biasanya mereka merasakan berapa merana diri mereka dan setelah sekian lama bergumul dengan kesedihan tersebut, tiba-tiba menyadari bahwa mereka tidak memiliki kekuatan untuk keluar dari kesedihannya itu.
Itulah yang terjadi dengan Amanda dan Iris di film ini. Disatu sisi mereka masih merasakan kesedihannya, namun di sisi lain mereka bertekad untuk melarikan diri dari masalah. Cara yang mereka lakukan sebenarnya tidaklah sepenuhnya benar. Lari dari masalah tidak sama dengan menyelesaikan masalah yang dihadapi. Sama seperti hidup dengan memiliki pintu belakang. Jika kita tidak suka dengan kehidupan yang sedang dijalani saat ini, lantas lari sekencang-kencangnya melalui pintu belakang. Hidup dengan memiliki pintu belakang sama artinya dengan bertindak sebagai pecundang. Alih-alih menyelesaikan masalah, ternyata malahan menumpuk masalah dan menunda kekacauan sampai saatnya meledak.
Amanda dan Iris adalah contoh yang sangat tepat untuk dapat menunjukkan kejantanan (kewanitaan, tepatnya-red) mereka. Mereka akhirnya dapat memutuskan yang terbaik bagi diri mereka sendiri. Mereka menyudahi cinta yang tidak berujung. Mereka bertekad untuk menjadi diri mereka sendiri yang enerjik, penuh dengan kekuatan dan cinta. Akhirnya dengan cara penerimaan diri, mereka terjatuh ke dalam cinta yang mereka inginkan sejak awal.
Film ini di negara asalnya dirating PG -13 untuk adegan seks dan bahasa kasar, di Indonesia di rating menjadi film untuk Dewasa. Aku setuju dengan keputusan Badan Sensor Film. Menurutku, rating PG-13 tidaklah tepat untuk negara Indonesia, karena di dalam film ini terlalu banyak adegan seks dan minum alkohol. Jika ratingnya tetap PG-13, bisa-bisa anak muda di Indonesia tambah terjerumus dengan minuman keras. Karena aku yakin, meskipun diberi rating PG-13 tidaklah mungkin anak-anak usia 13 tahun menonton dengan orang tuanya dan mengharapkan orang tua memberikan guidance kepada mereka tentang apa yang ditontonnya kali itu.
Sayangnya, film ini berat sebelah. Cerita di awal yang dimulai dengan kedua wanita, Amanda dan Iris, mendadak di tengah film hanya difokuskan kepada Amanda saja. Cerita tentang tokoh Iris tidak begitu banyak dan seimbang dibandingkan dengan Amanda. Juga mengenai percintaan Iris tidak dijabarkan segamblang Amanda. Padahal bisa jadi ceritanya akan mengalir lebih menarik karena tokoh yang dibawakan oleh kate Winslet ini digambarkan sebagai wanita yang enerjik.
Selebihnya, film ini sangat ringan dan menarik. Padat dengan makna tentang kehidupan. Banyak hal yang bisa dipetik dari film ini, yaitu tentang kegigihan untuk menyayangi diri sendiri dan memberikan yang terbaik bagi diri kita sendiri. Jika cinta adalah yang terbaik bagi diri kita, maka persembahkanlah cinta yang sejati bagi diri kita. Tidak perlu terlalu larut dengan kegagalan cinta sebelumnya. Terus maju dan selalu melihat dari sisi yang lain, mencoba dari sisi yang berbeda. [RN, 210207].
Trailer film dan galery fotonya dapat dinikmati di : http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/theholiday/index.html
Program pertukaran rumah dapat dilihat di : http://www.homeexchange.com/
+++++++++++++++
Bagi anda yang sudah menonton, berikut ada wawancara antara
Nancy
dengan Lucy O’Loughlin dari Femalefirst.
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/entertainment/Nancy+s+Holiday+cheer-27477-page2.html
Q: So what sparked the idea for ‘The Holiday’?
A: I thought of the idea when I was planning a vacation and found a site that arranges house swapping.
I had no idea this kind of thing ever existed. On the website, I read about all these fantastic houses. Eventually I realised I would have to trade mine to get one.
I thought it would be a wonderful starting point of two women who are both running away from something. Amanda and Iris are both down in the dumps and realise they must do something about it. Swapping houses becomes the first step in taking their lives back.
The movie is about leaving your baggage behind and opening your eyes to what’s in font of you and what you’re really feeling.
Q: I hear you wrote the part of Miles especially for Jack Black. Were you nervous about asking him to play the part?
A: Well I asked a friend to introduce me to Jack because I wanted to write it for him and I thought if he doesn’t like it I don’t want to spend the next year having him in mind if he absolutely would never be in a movie like this.
So a friend of mine called Jack and asked him if he would meet me and luckily he was interested in it and he did like it. It is such a good experience for me writing with somebody in mind so I thought I would try it on this movie and I thought of Jack Black.
I saw him in ‘
School
of
Rock
‘ and I thought he was the cutest guy I had seen in a movie for so long and I just fell in love with him, honestly, I just thought he was just incredible.
So Jack came over to my house, I made him some coffee and I told him the idea. He asked me, ‘Have you seen my work’, and I said, ‘Yes, I’ve seen your work I think you’re fabulous.’ I told him that he would be starring with Kate Winslet and he said, ‘You want me in a movie with Kate Winslet’, and I said, ‘Yeah I do!’
It’s funny because when I told Kate that I wanted Jack Black she was so excited and I immediately thought I was onto something.
Q: Was it a big culture shock coming to shoot the film in
England
?
A: Oh my god it is so cold! So when we came here that was the only thing that was really different for us.
And of course people said to us, ‘You know your movie has got snow in it but it never snows here.’ I was like, ‘Really? But it snows in ‘Bridget Jones!’
I mean I don’t live here so I can only go by the movies, and they said, ‘Yeah that’s just the movies it never snows here.’
So we hired a company to make fake snow and then in the first week of shooting it snowed maybe three times.
Q: Did Kate and Jude help you out with the culture difference between here and the
US
?
A: They were really good with me. I told them if there is something in there that doesn’t sound right or doesn’t feel right just tell me.
And on occasion Kate would say, ‘I had a line that said about throwing something in the trash’, and she told me she would never call it that, which is something I wouldn’t have known.
Q: Jude always looks quite moody in his films did you have to remind him to smile?
A: Well I did have to remind him, but you know actors are like that sometimes, they do what is comfortable for them. I remember on ‘What Women Want’ Mel Gibson would come in sometimes like a tough guy in the mornings. And I would have to say, ‘Mel, it’s not that sort of movie, you don’t have to act tough.’
And Jude too, he has played a lot of dark characters and more serious films and so sometimes you have to say come up, come out to play, but he was really game.
Q: In one scene Jude has to cry. Did he put up a fight?
A: The great thing about Jude crying in the movie is that I was prepared for him to be like any good male movie star and say, ‘You don’t really want me to cry?’ And then I would have to say, ‘Yes, actually you must cry because it is part of the scene.’ Instead what Jude took a private moment away from everyone on set to prepare himself and I saw him in the corner of my eye weeping.
Q: Is it true that the part of Graham was originally written for Hugh Grant?
A: Where did you hear that…? Hugh Grant?
Hugh is a great actor but I wanted Jude. He to me is the biggest surprise of the movie. Even though I wanted him in casting and I thought he could do it he just showed me how brilliantly he could cross into this genre.
Q: What was it like working with Cameron Diaz?
A: She is a doll. She is delightful. She is absolutely willing to try anything. If I said to her, ‘Lets try you walking down the stairs and bumping your head’, she would be like, ‘Yeah, OK cool!’ She is up for everything and really extraordinarily gifted at physical comedy, I can’t think of any other women that are that funny, or that can do these sorts of scripts that well.
Like when she is slipping about on the ice outside. We brought in a stuntwomen because of course we don’t want Cameron breaking her leg on the first day of shooting.
So the stuntwoman turned up and she is an expert and Cameron and I are watching her on the monitor and Cameron is like, ‘I don’t find it funny the way she is doing it, do you mind if I try it?’ So I said, ‘Honey, I would love you to try it I just don’t want you to get hurt.’
So she got up and did it in one or three takes. I loved working with her, she is a great girl.
Q: Did you have her in mind when you wrote the part?
A: I did yeah. But a lot of people write movies with Cameron in mind and want Cameron Diaz. She is a terrific actress and a natural.
She is a real comedienne and one of the great rewards of working with her is how much she makes me laugh. She sometimes reminds me of Goldie Hawn, whom I love. She has very similar comedic instincts.
Q: How did you know Eli would be right for the role of retired scriptwriter Arthur?
A: Eli’s autobiography came out about the time that I was casting the movie, and I saw him being interviewed. That was it. He is in many ways exactly the character I wrote. He’s had a phenomenal career. He’s worked with many great legends. He’s 90 years old and a true
Hollywood
person. He understood perfectly the kind of man I was writing about.
Q: Did he have many anecdotes on set?
A: He was so full of anecdotes. Everybody was just so interested in what he had to say. There are so many stills from this movie of Eli sitting in a chair and all of us surrounding him listening.
Eli has worked with all the great directors. He told stories about his first day of shooting with Carey (Grant). And Clarke (Gable). You don’t usually hear
Clark
mentioned that often on a modern day film set, it was really cool.
It really was quite fascinating. He was absolutely wonderful to direct, because every time I gave him a direction his response to me was, ‘Thank you.’ Everything is a positive for him, it was a real life lesson.
Most 90-year-olds are not starring in movies, he had such a positive way of looking at life it was quite amazing actually.
Q: In the movie, Iris befriends Arthur and interestingly he is the one who really helps her discover herself. Did you plan for this relationship when you were writing?
A: Writing for me is like a super-natural experience. Somehow it comes out. People ask me, ‘How did you get that?’ and, honest to god, I don’t know.
Do you ever have that experience when you are driving in your car and you get to the place and you know where you started from, but you don’t quite remember the details along the way?
During my writing process I like to go for a walk in my neighbourhood after lunch.
And there was this man in my neighbourhood who I often saw walking who looked really quite ill and who used a walker.
I would find myself after my walk coming back to my computer and thinking about him and wondering who he was and the next thing I know he is in my movie as Arthur.
I just started writing him in and the kinda neat thing about that is last week I saw him completely well, walking by himself and he had no idea that he is one of the main characters in the movie.
Q: Did you find the actors learned from one another?
A: Jude has told me that he learned a lot from watching Cameron because she is much more used to this kind of film. And I wasn’t aware of it at the time but afterwards he told me he had learned a lot from her and the way she would approach a scene.
And in terms of Jack and Kate I just know that Kate could not keep a straight face with Jack. We have the best outtakes of any movie I have ever done and a lot of them are just Kate laughing it up.
Q: You have such a great cast in this film, but I imagine casting must be difficult in terms of budget constraints? Sometimes.
A: Definitely because undoubtedly you come across somebody who you can’t get in. But I think every writer writes with somebody in mind. A lot of writers when they are asked who they wrote the part for will say, ‘Oh nobody’, and I think, ‘No, that can’t be true.’ They have to secretly want somebody. And sometimes we don’t get everyone we want but sometimes we do! Sometimes we are lucky!
By Lucy O’Loughlin.
Additional reporting by Kate Sole.
Cinta memang abstrak dan tidak mudah untuk digambarkan. Ia ada dan bisa dirasakan. Ia adalah kebutuhan. Namun bila kita sudah tidak menginginkannya sekalipun, cinta tetap ada disana, menunggu siapapun yang membutuhkannya. 
Nataniel adalah seorang anak berusia 5 tahun yang dijual oleh orang tuanya kepada pemerintah untuk dididik sebagai seorang calon penyihir. Ia kemudian dibesarkan oleh keluarga penyihir bernana Arthur Underwood yang telah dipilih oleh pemerintah untuk mendidiknya. Nataniel sangat suka belajar ilmu sihir dan cepat sekali mengingat berbagai mantra-mantra sederhana. Sayangnya kesukaannya ini tidak diimbangi oleh ayah angkatnya, karena Arthur tidak ingin Nataniel terlalu menguasai ilmu kepenyihiran dan mengalahkan kemampuan ayah angkatnya sendiri. Meski demikian, Nataniel tidak pernah patah semangat dalam belajar.
