Displaying items by tag: Midwinter Break movie

MIDWINTER BREAK

UK/Netherlands, 2025, 90 minutes, Colour.

Lesley Manville, Ciaran Hinds, Julie Lamberton, Ed Sayer, Niamh Cusack, Lewis Harris, David Gallacher.

Directed by Polly Findlay.

There is something quite dour about Irish storytelling, perhaps the experience of their harsh history, perhaps the weather. And midwinter seems to be a very dour time in Ireland.

But, this quietly engaging story is about the midwinter of a marriage, decades passing, husband and wife retreating into their own personal worlds, failures in communication, disappointments, wistful memories of the past.

This is the story of Stella and Jerry, flashbacks to happy memories, but also memories of violence and The Troubles, their marriage, Stella pregnant, the victim of a violent attack in a street upheaval, her giving birth, her having to live with the trauma, possessing her, unable to confide in Jerry. And, Jerry, a talented architect, losing his place in the advancement rung, the couple deciding to leave Ireland and go to live in Glasgow.

And the decades pass. Jerry still has had some work but has remote moments, drinking, also very rationalistic about his wife’s faith. Stella is a churchgoer, a devout woman, a spirituality of some resignation. But, at Christmas, returning from church, she offers Jerry a Christmas gift, a flight and a holiday in Amsterdam.

The drama is quietly effective, though it has some harsh moments, but even some merry moments. Lesley Manville and Ciaran Hinds have been excellent character actors for many decades. It is a great pleasure to see them having a film for themselves, bringing Stella and Jerry empathetically facing this crisis in their life and marriage.

Since we get to know Stella and Jerry so well, there are hopes that this will be a break in their midwinter, a happy break in their lives, enjoying the flight, the hotel, the room, meals, outings together, exploring the city. And, in some way this is a great help.

However, Stella has relied on her prayer and religious spirit over the years, goes to visit an old area of the city where there was a religious community, reflective, devoted to prayer. She encounters the priest, but also a sympathetic woman who lives there (Niamh Cusack), guides her around, gives an explanation of what has happened to the area, listening sympathetically to Stella’s wish to go there, in fact, Stella telling her personal story for the first time, telling Jerry that she wants to leave and that this is where her future is.

But, in Amsterdam, in the church, times have changed, times more secular rather than religiously contemplative.

So, the midwinter break means a challenge for Stella and her hopes, questioning Jerry and his withdrawal into isolation and drinking, possibilities for the future. And we remember that after midwinter, the beginnings of spring.

1. The title, a holiday in midwinter, but also a breakdown of wintry marriage?
2. The scenes of leaving Ireland, memories of The Troubles and violence, Stella and her pregnancy, the shooting, collapse, the birth? The recurring memories? The transition to Glasgow, life in Scotland, ordinary, Stella going to mass, acquire? Jerry at home? A winter Christmas?
3. Stella, the Christmas gift, the ticket to Holland, Jerry, at home, drinking, happy with the idea? Getting ready, packing, the contents of the cases, the taxi, the airport, the flight, landing in Amsterdam?
4. Jerry, the long marriage, getting used to each other, taking each other for granted, Stella not able to tell Jerry the details of her emotions from the past, Jerry, architect, having to move, losing his position as architect? The quiet life together? Their absent son and the stories of him and grandchildren?
5. The film emphasising the ordinariness of life, Stella, her age, religious, memories, but needing more in her life? Jerry, satisfied with life, his drinking, secretly, openly?
6. The time in Amsterdam, audiences identifying with the characters, the tourists, the hotel the room, the meals, wandering the streets, the canals, the buildings, Stella wanting to see the Catholic area, the Catholic Church, the encounter with Cathy and her help, inside the church, Stella’s experience, the story of the reception of the host, the violence, the recovery of the host? In the art work? Jerry is secular comment, the touch of cynicism, his own lack of faith?
7. The going out, Stella regretful, then going out, the drinking and the dancing, the aftermath?
8. Stella, the return to the area, meeting Cathy again, Stella’s knowledge of the unmarried women who live there, her wanting that kind of quiet life and contemplation, doing something more with her life? Cathy, the revelation of what had happened, the area secularised, the nuns and women no longer there, accommodation, age limits…?
9. Stella able to tell her story the first time, Cathy attentive and sympathetic? Still having to go back to Jerry?
10. Stella confronting Jerry, her own desires and life, his drinking and deceptions, the winter of life, its breaking down?
11. Going back to the airport, and uncertain future, the delay of the plane, the storm, the people at the airport, Jerry and started together, looking out the window, the weather, the possibilities of some kind of a meeting of the storm, some kind of communication, reconciliation?