“The Holdovers” would probably be a little more delightful if we weren’t told that the lead character smells bad. And not “bad” in a way that could be alleviated by a shower, but irreversibly bad, the result of a chronic disease that renders him smelling like fish.

In the script, that probably seemed funny, and in a review, that might seem funny too. But movies are very literal, and when you’re looking at a guy, and rooting for him to find love, the thought that he wreaks like a three-day-old baccala feels like an intrusion.

That’s one eccentric detail too many in an Alexander Payne film that otherwise feels like a return to form, the first genuine Alexander Payne film in years. His previous movie, “Downsizing” (2017), in addition to being an artistic disaster, was a sprawling sci-fi film that didn’t play to the director’s strengths. “The Holdovers” is more in line with Payne’s previous work — it’s small, concentrates on character interaction and takes place over the course of a few days.

It feels almost belligerently personal, as though Payne, after “Downsizing,” decided to make his most idiosyncratic film yet. It’s as if he set out to do everything he usually does, only more so: He casts Paul Giamatti from “Sideways,” and instead of having him play a typical difficult personality, he makes him disliked by almost everyone — even before they get a whiff of him. And Payne pairs down the action, demonstrating his virtuosity by managing to entertain with a story in which almost nothing happens.

“The Holdovers” feels so distinctly Payne-like that it comes as a surprise that he didn’t write it or perhaps adapt it from some weird novel that sold eight copies 50 years ago. In fact, the screenplay was written by David Hemingson (“Whiskey Cavalier”), whose career has been entirely in television.

The movie is set in 1970, and the opening credits evoke that era with graphics and popping sounds on the soundtrack. The period authenticity is reinforced by little forgotten details, such as a poster of W.C. Fields hanging from a dorm room wall. In the early 1970s, that poster — of Fields playing cards — was everywhere, not that everybody was a big W.C. Fields fan. People just liked the poster.

A few days before Christmas, Paul (Giamatti), an ancient history teacher, is handed the grim assignment of having to babysit the “holdovers”; that is, the boys who won’t be going home for the holiday break. Being an exacting teacher who relishes the dislike he inspires — his transparent defense against rejection — he devises a study program to last the whole holiday period.

尽管它meanders at the start, “The Holdovers” gradually becomes a story about three people having a rough Christmas. In addition to Giamatti as Paul, there’s Dominic Sessa, making a strong debut as Angus, a self-possessed yet troubled teenager whose mother and stepfather have abandoned him; and Da’Vine Joy Randolph as Mary, the school’s cook whose son has recently been killed in Vietnam.

Here and there, there are moments when the energy dips, but what carries the film from scene to scene are the truthful performances and the genuineness of the storytelling. There are no fake arguments or transparent plot devices inserted to create tension, just a steady series of incidents that cause the characters to slowly change.

Giamatti is a marvel. He plays a man in conflict with the world, and he never once goes begging for audience sympathy and understanding. He doesn’t have to. Something in the actor’s essence, something plainly readable on his face even in Paul’s worst moments, tells us this is someone essentially soft and kind, whose aggression is just misdirected fear and sensitivity.

Maybe it’s time that Giamatti got the Oscar he should have gotten 19 years ago for “Sideways.”

Reach Mick LaSalle: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com