Qulture Magazine

Words: Jessica Rose Kerr

There’s something almost disarming about Midwinter Break. It doesn’t shout for your attention, Instead, it allows emotions to unfold naturally and before you know it, you’re holding back tears.

Premiering at the Glasgow Film Festival, the film adapts the novel by Bernard MacLaverty and follows Stella (Lesley Manville) and Gerry (Ciaràn Hinds), a long-married couple on a winter trip to Amsterdam that slowly turns into something far more confronting than a holiday. What begins as a change of scenery becomes an emotional lesson of their entire relationship.

Amsterdam as a mirror:

Amsterdam in winter becomes more than a backdrop. The muted canals, the silent streets and the washed-out light create a world that feels paused. It mirrors Stella and Gerry’s relationship. They share the same space, but rarely the same emotional ground.

The stillness of the setting gives space for everything unsaid to hang heavy between them.

Faith as comfort and conflict:

One of the film’s most moving threads is Stella’s faith. Her Catholicism isn’t presented as rigid, it feels deeply personal. It’s tied to her past, to wounds she carries quietly, and to the way she has survived parts of her life that clearly changed her.

The film doesn’t spell everything out. It trusts us to read between the lines, which makes her emotional moments land even harder.

Gerry and the slow damage of drink:

Gerry’s struggle with alcohol is portrayed with painful honesty. It’s not dramatic or explosive, it’s subtle, almost ordinary. Watching this movie makes you think, it’s one of those films where the truth is quietly uncovered, and that’s what makes it hit.

It shows the deep reality with alcoholism, and it was done very well. There’s a sadness to him, a man who knows he has let things slip too far but doesn’t quite know how to claw them back.

Love, but without illusions:

What Midwinter Break does so beautifully is show love in its later years. not the cinematic version, but the real one. The version built on decades of compromise, mistakes, forgiveness, and shared history. It asks questions many couples might quietly recognise. It makes you feel seen and heard.

And yet, for all the emotional weight, the film isn’t bleak. It feels tender. There are moments of softness, for example what I found very endearing was Gerry and Stella had a saying “you and me.” me and you.” They would say to each other which suggests love can still endure, even when it’s bruised.

The acting between Lesley Manville and Ciaràn Hinds was phenomenal. You could tell they had a special bond, the way you felt for both perspectives is extremely hard to do and Polly Findlay did an exceptional job at this.

Final thoughts:

Midwinter Break is gentle but powerful. It doesn’t rush. It lets conversations breathe. It trusts the audience to sit with discomfort. That silence really hit hard in the film and the creative process through that was done extremely well.

It’s the kind of film that makes you think about your own relationships on the walk home.

Directed by
Polly Findlay

Written by
Bernard MacLaverty
Nick Payne

Based on
Midwinter Break by Bernard MacLaverty

Produced by
Guy Heeley
Floor Onrust

Starring
Lesley Manville
Ciarán Hinds
Niamh Cusack

Cinematography
Laurie Rose
Edited by
Lucia Zucchetti
Stephen O’Connell

Music by
Hannah Peel

Production
companies
Shoebox Films
Film4
Family Affair Films

Distributed by
Focus Features
Universal Pictures

Release dates
20 February 2026 (United States)
20 March 2026 (United Kingdom)
Running time
90 minutes