Director Paul Feig’s rom-com Last Christmas features Henry Golding as a charming stranger - but he might not be an angel, as some are speculating. Written by Emma Thompson and Bryony Kimmings (from an idea Thompson and her husband, Greg Wise, cracked), Last Christmas tells the tale of Kate (Emilia Clarke), a young British woman who can’t seem to get her life on track. That changes when Kate meets Tom, a bloke who’s kind and generous… so much so Kate has a hard time believing he’s real.
She’s not the only one, either. The Last Christmas trailer dropped Tuesday night and people were quick to notice Tom isn’t shown interacting with anyone but Kate in the preview, leading many to suspect he’s some kind of guardian angel or spirit of Christmas who’s here to help Kate. However, the answer to this riddle might be right there in the movie’s title.
Last Christmas was partly inspired by the famous Wham! song of the same name, and even incorporates some previously-unreleased material from the band’s late co-member, George Michael (who wrote the tune), into the story. As some have pointed out on Twitter, the song’s opening line (“Last Christmas, I gave you my heart…”) could mean Tom is a recently-deceased organ donor who - quite literally - gave Kate his heart after she fell deathly ill, and has now returned as a chipper ghost to look after her and help her rediscover the joy in life.
The film’s trailer is full of details supporting this theory. Kate, as mentioned, is the only one who directly acknowledges Tom in the preview, and the pair are often shown conversing alone (e.g. there’s no one around to stare confused at Kate while she seemingly talks to herself). She even criticizes Tom about his enigmatic ways in one scene by pointing out he “keeps disappearing” without warning. In another moment, Kate tells Tom about her near-death experience and admits she avoids telling people because it weirds them out. Tom, on the other hand, is understanding and sympathetic… possibly because he himself has already died and knows what it’s like to (again, literally) stare death in the eye.
If so, Last Christmas is far from the first film to include a twist where one of the leads is a ghost who helps another character work through their problems in life (hello, The Sixth Sense). It wouldn’t even be the first rom-com to include a surprise fantasy element along those lines, either (see also: 2005’s Just Like Heaven). The movie further explores themes about the importance of helping others, as Tom is shown inspiring Kate to volunteer at a local homeless shelter in the trailer. That’s to say, Tom being a ghost who’s there to guide Kate would be in keeping with the rest of Last Christmas’ narrative (even if the twist itself is kinda painfully obvious).
- Last Christmas Release Date: 2019-11-08
