‘Midwinter Break’ Review: Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds Star in a Marital Crisis Drama That’s Low-Key to a Fault

The actors play an Irish couple haunted by secrets on a holiday in Amsterdam in Polly Findlay's adaptation of Bernard MacLaverty's 2017 novel. Ciarán Hinds and Lesley Manville in 'Midwinter Break.' Mark de Blok/Focus Features Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment It’s always tricky to make a dynamic film about quiet people with hidden feelings, and there are no better actors than Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds to reveal the unspoken depths of such characters. They come through with everything they have in understated yet deeply felt performances as Stella and Gerry, who are going through the motions of a long marriage. But even these two can’t quite bring Midwinter Break to life, intelligent and thoughtful though its concept is. The film, based on Bernard MacLaverty‘s 2017 novel, feels as if it still belongs on the page, not because it needs more action but because this ordinary couple’s problems seem so routine and unsurprising, their inner lives so veiled. Even with its promise of a secret to be revealed and the twist of Stella’s increasingly strong religious faith, the film is often as calm and flat as the marriage at its center. Related Stories Movies 'Cold Storage' Review: Joe Keery, Georgina Campbell and Liam Neeson Make Goofy Sci-Fi Horror Throwback Painless, if Not Priceless TV What Does the 'Disclaimer' Ending Say About Us? Alfonso Cuarón Explains His Intention Midwinter Break The Bottom Line Excessively quiet. Release date: Friday, Feb. 20 (Focus Features)Cast: Lesley Manville, Ciarán Hinds, Niamh Cusack, Julie Lamberton, Ed SayerDirector: Polly FindlayWriters: Bernard MacLaverty, Nick Payne Rated PG-13, 1 hour 30 minutes The couple moved from Belfast to Glasgow years ago after a trauma we see briefly in flashback early in the film. The young, pregnant Stella (Julie Lamberton) is caught in the crossfire and shot during the Troubles. The film starts with Manville’s voiceover saying, “We never speak about what happened in Belfast.” Now, she says, they are “exiles from each other,” silently eating dinner across the table while he reads a newspaper. She goes alone to Catholic Mass at Christmastime while he, a retired architect, stays home with a drink and a book. Their son is grown and away. Manville and Hinds fit easily in the roles, although these preliminary stages of the film are especially predictable. When Stella surprises Gerry with a Christmas present of a trip to Amsterdam it’s easy to see that she has an agenda, but he seems not to notice. In Amsterdam, where most of the film is set and was shot, the familiar pattern continues. In their hotel room, he sneaks drinks and she pretends not to notice. They have sex once. At a restaurant when she wants to have a serious talk about why she orchestrated the trip, he’d rather order dinner. The director, Polly Findlay, an acclaimed theater director in the U.K., makes the transition to film smoothly. Her style is graceful and steady as she remains focused on the characters, knowing just when to stay close and still on their faces and when to follow them as they, and the film, play tourist in Amsterdam. The city is photographed to look lovely even in the dead of winter, as they walk along canals and visit historic sites. At the Rijksmuseum, Gerry is more engaged than Stella. At the Anne Frank House, Stella is deeply moved. But the film seems to be marking time in a prettily-shot, conventional way. More important to the story, they visit a place Stella has researched, the Begijnhof, a group of historic houses dating back to the Middle Ages, where a community of single women devoted themselves to God, living like nuns but without taking religious vows. What she wants there is her secret for just a little while. Throughout, the screenplay underserves the actors. It was written by MacLaverty and Nick Payne, who also wrote the play Constellations and screenplays including the recent Florence Pugh-Andrew Garfield weeper We Live in Time. The characters are meant to be shut off from each other, but maybe not this shut off from what we know about them. When they visit a church, Stella looks transported, and Gerry refers to their past, saying, “What happened to you was not miraculous.” But faith itself is never really developed as a theme. The political backdrop of Northern Ireland is even less of a factor. Whether those gaps are a feature or a bug of this thinly-written screenplay makes no difference in the end. One major scene is the exception to that flatness, and Manville makes the absolute most of it. Stella goes back to the Begijnhof alone and talks to a friendly fellow Irishwoman (Niamh Cusack) they had met briefly on their first visit. She pours out the story of her past and the intense religious thoughts that entered her mind at that life-changing moment in Belfast. Manville delivers one of her