Midwinter Break – Review

Cert – 12, Run-time – 1 hour 30 minutes, Director – Polly Findlay

An aging couple (Lesley Manville, Ciarán Hinds) take a trip to Amsterdam which causes them to confront personal feelings and past tragedies in their relationship.

A perfect example of a drama lifted by its leading performances, Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds are the heart of Midwinter Break, even if it, like those of their characters, isn’t entirely beating. They play long-married couple Stella and Gerry. Over an opening which sees a Christmas where there’s perhaps more fondness than love, but still some spark present between them, Stella gifts a holiday for the couple to Amsterdam. However, there may be more to the trip for her than just a present, stemming back to a tragedy faced decades ago during The Troubles – which forced the couple to move from Belfast to Scotland.

While we see details of the tragedy acting as the film’s opening there’s still an air of mystery around Stella’s intents in Amsterdam. There appears to be more behind her want to see the various Catholic churches in the city than just her religious beliefs, while Gerry tags along with a slightly disinterested view with his own lack of belief. Yet, the mystery that plays out doesn’t have a great deal of actual mystery. Everything that we see in Midwinter Break is on the surface of both the characters and narrative. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and Manville and Hinds both give, as you’d expect, solid performances which hold the film up.

Without them then there may be a faltering nature to things, and a slight blandness even at just 90-minutes. However, the pair, and indeed the feature debut direction of Polly Findlay lean into the theatrical, without overdoing things and still bearing in mind this is a film. It helps that Findlay comes from a theatrical background, having directed productions for the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company, and appears to have worked closely with her lead actors in this film in forming their characters and the relationship rooted in growing distance and lingering tragedy.

Emotions come to the fore, particularly in the monologues of the final stages, and there are some nice touches in the silences and failed interactions that crop up two. Gerry tries to start conversations, or make light after a particularly heavy conversation, especially for him on the receiving end, as his wife continues on her way and largely ignores him. There may not quite be punches throughout, however much the film may want them – those final monologues seem more like a back-and-forth of ideas trying to individually lead towards wrapping up than something properly fluid. Yet, there’s still an overall likability to things. A slight gentleness that sees the events pan out over a largely contained hour-and-a-half with help from two strong performances who hold the film up and see it through with an authenticity in the characters and their relationship, even if not entirely a connection with their dramas.

Manville and Hinds deliver expectedly strong performances which lift up Midwinter Break, allowing for interest in its on-the-surface drama if not always emotion.