Thompson received further acclaim for her work in the London-based romance Last Chance Harvey (2008), where she and Dustin Hoffman played a lonely, middle-aged pair who cautiously begin a relationship. Critics praised the chemistry between the two leads, and both received Golden Globe nominations for their performances. Thompson's two 2009 films were both set in 1960s United Kingdom, and in both she made cameo appearances: as a headmistress in the critically praised drama An Education and as a "tippling mother" in Richard Curtis's The Boat That Rocked.
Thompson received further acclaim for her work in the London-based romance Last Chance Harvey (2008) where she and Dustin Hoffman played a lonely, middle-aged pair who cautiously begin a relationship. Critics praised the chemistry between the two leads, and both received Golden Globe nominations for their perform,ances. Thompson's two 2009 films were both set in 1960s United Kingdom, and in both she made cameo appearances: as a headmistress in the critically praised drama An Education and as a "tippling mother" in Richard Curtis's The Boat That Rocked.