Film Pick of the Week: Midwinter Break - review by Yvette Huddleston
Midwinter Break Prime Video, review by Yvette Huddleston
Based on Bernard MacLaverty’s novel with a screenplay co-written by the author with playwright Nick Payne, this absorbing drama is, for me, one of the best films of the year so far.
Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds play Stella and Gerry, a late-middle aged married couple who left their native Northern Ireland for Scotland decades earlier in the 1970s, when they were young parents. The reason for the move was a shocking incident connected to the Troubles, the trauma of which has underlain their otherwise happy, long marriage.
Their only child lives far away in another country and they are having another Christmas alone, just the two of them. Now retired, they have plenty of free time to enjoy each other’s company and they appear to be content – there is an easy banter between them and obvious affection. However, there are cracks. Gerry appears to have a drinking problem and the question of religious faith has always been a sticking point – Stella is a devout Catholic while Gerry is agnostic.
These issues in the relationship begin to rise to the surface and cause some tension when the couple go on a what is intended to be a restful midwinter break to Amsterdam. Arriving in the city, they are enchanted by it and enjoy ambling around, visiting the usual tourist sites together. Gerry also manages to find an Irish pub which is very pleased about. Stella on the other hand is intrigued by the Begijnhof, an enclosed community founded in the 14th century and historically was home to unmarried Catholic women who wished to devote their lives to God.
Visiting the peaceful courtyard has a profound effect on Stella and one she finds difficult to articulate to Gerry. While they are there, they meet Irish ex-pat Kathy (Niamh Cusack) who lives in the Begijnhof which she explains is still a residence for single women. It sparks an idea in Stella that she cannot let go of and triggers a crisis in her relationship with her husband. She begins to question what her purpose is and whether she can continue to live the life that she has been leading up to now.
This is a beautiful film with outstanding performances from Manville and Hinds that explores the incremental damage that can be done in a loving marriage when long-buried unaddressed issues rise to the surface. Radiating with empathy and humanity this is an extremely moving and ultimately uplifting story.