Polly Findlay’s Midwinter Break follows Stella (Lesley Manville) and Gerry (Ciarán Hinds) as a couple trying to rekindle their lost flame after a tragedy in their past has still left its mark. 

Years ago, Stella, pregnant at the time, was in the wrong place at the wrong time in Belfast during the Troubles and was shot in crossfire. By luck (or a miracle), though, she survived and moved to Glasgow with their child. Now, years later, this moment has left a scar on both of them. Midwinter Break follows the couple on a trip to Amsterdam, where they finally confront whether the relationship has run its course.

When covering the Glasgow Film Festival this year, I really wanted to cover films that I wouldn’t usually consider. I enjoy drama, but not usually dramas about relationships. To my amazement, though, I found Midwinter Break to be the biggest surprise of the festival so far. 

While the film is undoubtedly about this couple’s drift apart, at its core, Midwinter Break is about how, even if you run away or refuse to confront it, trauma can turn into a third wheel. The film comes across as an honest look at how love and trauma can merge.

As we progress through the film, we understand why Stella believes divine intervention saved her and her child, whereas Gerry thinks it was just pure luck. It’s two people who are still stuck in that moment; their perspectives are shields to the pain. They’re both clearly frustrated that neither can agree, but you never doubt that the love was there. It makes the audience want to be on this journey with Stella and Gerry — you see how much they need each other.

I was glad to be drifting with Stella and Gerry because I could see how rewarding it would be when they finally find the spark. It helps, too, that the performances from Manville and Hinds, both wonderful actors, are terrific. While the film can be slow at times,  it didn’t bother me too much because I was invested in this central relationship.

Manville, in particular, is phenomenal. When she visits The Begijnhof, a place of worship for Catholic women in Amsterdam, she talks to Kathy (Niamh Cusack), another Irish woman living there, about joining the sisterhood. Kathy, though, delivers Stella the bad news: yes, this building is full of women, but the religious aspect is gone. In that moment, it’s as if Stella were shot again. 

You can see how devastated she is, but it leads to a great, vulnerable moment where Stella tells Kathy about that moment back in Belfast when she was shot. She asked God that, if he let her child live, she would devote herself to him. It’s a beautiful moment of Stella opening herself up to us. For her, there had to be a reason she’s still alive. Suddenly, it’s all come crashing down. But, too, she just as suddenly realizes that the life she has lived was its own kind of devotion.

Hinds matches Manville’s unmovable faith as Gerry, who is the complete opposite of her; he is looking for a logical explanation in the unexplainable. There has to be a rational reason, which at times makes him come across as grumpy. It comes down to the sense of guilt and anger: If divine intervention does exist, then why did it not intervene to stop Stella from being in that crossfire? He also carries the guilt of not being there when it happened, which he could never have predicted. Eventually, Hinds shows his real vulnerability to the woman he has loved for so long.

Led by two seasoned performances, Midwinter Break left me pleasantly surprised by its honest, effective journey into love, trauma, and faith. 

Review Courtesy of Matthew Allan

Feature Image Courtesy of Focus Features