Questions While Watching Groundhog Day
This 1993 comedy starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell is more complex and subtle than
it appears at first glance. Murray plays Phil Connors, an arrogant television weatherman who is
forced to relive the same day (February 2) over and over again. The film raises questions about
despair and the search for meaning that people experience, often without being aware of it
consciously. The film also demonstrates how people can have mixed motives and false ideas
that hinder them from a deeper relationship with God and other people.
Points to Ponder
1. What is the legend of the groundhog seeing his shadow on February 2? What is the
symbolism of this legend with regard to the ordeal that Phil Connors suffers in the film? (Hint:
the idea of “looking at yourself” or “looking at your own shadow”.)
2. Phil Connors and Phil the Groundhog have the same name. Why is this symbolic?
3. On the third day of his ordeal, Connors spends the evening in a bowling alley with two
drunks. He says to them, “Well, what would you do if you were stuck in the same place every
day, and nothing you did mattered?” How did the two drunks react? How did the question
capture the principal point of the entire film?
4. Once Connors realizes what is happening, he experiences different reactions, one after
another, as if he were passing through stages of a process. What evidence from the film can you
use to show that he is passing through each stage?
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Shock
Hedonism (doing what he wants without concern for the consequences)
Boredom
Initial attempts to “love” someone, but with mixed motives.
Despair (total loss of hope and meaning)
Peace and Joy
5. Phil often says things that seem like casual comments, but they are really clues that he is
about to begin a new stage. For example, Phil says to Rita and Larry, “This winter is never
going to end as long as the groundhog keeps seeing his shadow. He has to be stopped.” Which
stage follows this comment? How are Phil’s words symbolic, with regard to Phil himself?
6. Another comment to consider: Phil writes a note to Rita in the cafe, “We’d better get going
if we want to stay ahead of the weather.” If you interpret “we” to mean Phil and Rita, how
might this be symbolic of Phil entering a new stage?
7. Another comment to consider: Phil says to Rita and Larry, “It’s gonna be cold, it’s gonna be
gray, and it’s going to last you the rest of your life.”
8. Another comment to consider: Phil says to Rita while she is sleeping by his side, “What I
wanted to say was, I think you’re the kindest, sweetest, prettiest person I’ve ever met in my life.
. . I don’t deserve someone like you, but if I could, I would love you for the rest of my life.
Good night, Rita.” The words “Good night, Rita” have a double meaning. What is Phil really
saying to her with those words? (Hint: How does his relationship with her change after that
night? What does he stop trying to do?)
9. Phil’s initial attempts to charm Rita into loving him always fail. He tries to “love” her, but
his love is immature and has mixed motives. What might his mixed motives be? (Don’t simply
say that he wants to sleep with her, the answer is more complicated than that.) How might Phil
be seducing Rita in order to make himself feel better during his crisis?
10. Good poets are able to put into powerful words the questions and anxieties that all people
experience. So when we read good poetry, we say to ourselves, “This is what I’ve always felt,
though I’ve never been able to articulate it before!” Early in the film, Rita quotes Sir Walter
Scott, and near the end of the film, Phil quotes the Russian poet Chekhov. What are the words
of each quote, and what do they have to do with the main themes of the film?
11. Phil ridicules poetry at the beginning of the film, but near the end, when he is lying in bed
with Rita, he is reading a book of poetry. Why is this symbolic in terms of the wisdom that Phil
has acquired by the end of the story? (Hint: See question 10).
12. Today, many people believe that they cannot be happy unless they possess a certain thing
or a certain someone: “I cannot be happy unless I’m married to so-and-so,” or “I cannot be
happy unless I get out of this hick town and move to New York,” or “I cannot be happy unless I
get a different job”.
But St. Ignatius believed that happiness is a choice. We choose to be happy, and we are
capable of being happy anywhere, regardless whether we’re living in a hick town or the big city,
whether we’re married to someone sexy or someone ugly, or whether we like our job or not. In
other words, for true happiness, it is not required that our exterior circumstances change, but
rather that our interior attitude changes.
Groundhog Day teaches this lesson well. What evidence is in the film that Phil Connors
goes from the first view to the second? (Hint: What is the very last thing that Phil says to Rita
before the end of the film?)
13 March 2010