Last Chance Harvey - discussion guide

Summary

Last Chance Harvey tells the story of two middle-aged people who have been hurt by life, but find themselves with a chance to make a new beginning.

Harvey Shine (Dustin Hoffman) once aspired to being a jazz pianist, but he now writes jingles for an advertising company. With his job on the line, Harvey flies to London for the wedding of his estranged daughter (Liane Balaban), but promises to be back in time for a crucial advertising pitch.

Kate Walker’s (Emma Thompson) life consists of her work for the Public Statistics Agency, looking after her mother (Eileen Atkins), and blind dates which end in disappointment or even humiliation. Finding escape in light reading, she longs for something better in life, but is very afraid of getting hurt.

When Harvey arrives in London he finds it difficult to fit in with the rest of the wedding party. Telling his daughter that he cannot stay for the reception, he is devastated when she says she would like her stepfather Brian (James Brolin) to walk her down the aisle. The final straw comes when Harvey misses his flight back to New York and his boss Marvin (Richard Schiff) takes the opportunity to fire him over the phone.

As he drowns his sorrows at the airport bar, Harvey encounters Kate. Despite her initial reluctance to put down her book, Harvey manages to engage her in conversation and soon they are having lunch together. But can the two of them overcome their history of regrets and missed opportunities to take a chance on love again?

Background

Last Chance Harvey is scriptwriter and director Joel Hopkins’s second film. His award-winning debut Jump Tomorrow (2001) attracted the attention of Emma Thompson for its warmth and lack of irony. Wanting to work with Hopkins, Thompson was also eager to work with Dustin Hoffman again after their time together on Stranger than Fiction, and suggested him for the role of Harvey.

In exploring a romance between more mature characters than traditionally seen in Hollywood rom-coms, Last Chance Harvey presents us with more richly detailed characters and the opportunity to look at complex themes of regret and reconciliation, disappointment and hope. This was one of the main attractions of the script for Thompson:

"I want to see people who I actually believe to exist, who are vaguely like me, falling in love. People who aren’t perfect, who aren’t so beautiful that anyone would go for them. You don’t see love stories about that, you just see very beautiful people falling in love with each other and I’m just bored, I’m bored witless. I don’t care about them!"

For more information on Last Chance Harvey, have a look at our other Damaris resources on this film.

Questions for discussion

1. Which character were you able to identify with most and why?

2. What did you think of Kate’s theory that the British have become a more emotional nation since Diana’s death? To what extent do you think it is a good thing to express your emotions openly?

3. What mistakes had Harvey and Kate made? How do you think it had affected their characters and goals in life?

4. What kind of things do you regret in your past? What lessons have you learned from these moments? How have your regrets changed your goals and priorities for life?

5. How do you feel about risk-taking? Does it make life more fun or more painful? What things do you consider to be worth taking a risk to gain?

6. To what extent do you think that it is true to say that relationships get harder as you get older? Is there a sense in which they also get more interesting?

7. Have you ever felt that it was too late for you to make a difference in a situation or in some aspect of your life? How did that make you feel?

8. Do you feel like you have failed to achieve your true potential in some areas of life? What might be holding you back?

9. Eileen Atkins, who plays Kate’s mother, comments that ‘most mothers hold their children back, particularly their daughters’. To what extent do you agree with her analysis? Did you find the parent-children relationships in this film believable?

10. What does it take for Harvey and his daughter to be reconciled with each other? What do you think are the key steps in achieving reconciliation in any broken relationship?

11. Kate’s mother finds her prejudices challenged and her horizons expanded by her encounter with her Polish neighbour. Have you ever met someone who has had the same effect on you? What other examples are there in the film of assumptions about other people being challenged? Did any of these particularly resonate with you? Why?

12. Last Chance Harvey suggests that relationships are what give life meaning. To what extent do you think it is possible to find fulfilment in human relationships? What are the limitations of these relationships? Do you think it is possible, as the Bible suggests, to find an everlasting, entirely satisfying relationship with God?

13. What was the most striking relationship in the film for you? What are the most important relationships in your life? How do you let them know that they are special to you? What top tips would you give for building strong and loving relationships?

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