NEW YORK (OSV News) – The validity of faith is a major theme in the sensitive marital drama “Midwinter Break” (Focus). As adapted from co-writer Bernard MacLaverty’s 2017 novel by director Polly Findlay, the film is an exploration of how contrasting personalities and outlooks can serve either as a source of nuptial balance or of corrosive discord.
As flashbacks show, Belfast natives Stella (Lesley Manville) and Gerry (Ciaran Hinds) were long ago inadvertently caught up in the violent conflict that raged in Northern Ireland for decades. In the wake of this traumatic and potentially fatal incident, the couple relocated to Glasgow where they have lived ever since.
Though their union was long a happy one, the now-retired duo have more recently found themselves divided from each other in a way neither is prepared to acknowledge openly. To rouse them from their pretence of contentment and from the unfulfilling rut into which they’ve fallen, Stella surprises Gerry by arranging for a brief holiday in Amsterdam as a Christmas gift.
There, Stella investigates a historic religious community for women, the spiritually grounded lifestyle of which she admires. Gerry, meanwhile, struggles unsuccessfully against his increasing dependence on alcohol.
Stella’s strong Catholic faith is based, at least in part, on her belief that God delivered her from death back in war-torn Ulster — and answered her prayer for the survival of the child she was carrying at the time — in a miraculous manner. Gerry, who considers such ideas pure hokum, insists that the positive outcome can easily be explained by purely natural circumstances.
As the complementarity that once gave strength to Stella and Gerry’s relationship now threatens to drive them apart permanently, the script, on which Nick Payne collaborated, weighs their contrasting worldviews.
Stella’s supernaturally oriented perspective is openly scorned by Gerry, who sees religion as a hoax and seeks comfort only in the mysterious blessings of the present life. The narrative never decisively comes down in favor of one standpoint or the other.
Along the way to a dramatically — if not, necessarily, philosophically — satisfying wrapup, Manville and Hinds give expertly gauged performances, with their feelings often conveyed through facial expressions and reactions rather than dialogue. There’s a great deal of solid substance to their story and viewers will come away from it with much to ponder.
Potentially objectionably material, moreover, is kept to a minimum. As a result, and in light of the realistic insights the movie provides into the ups and downs of married life, many parents may consider “Midwinter Break” suitable fare for mature teens.
The film contains a glimpse of rear male nudity in a nonsexual context, fleeting gory sights, at least one instance each of profanity, rough language and crude dialogue and a couple of milder oaths. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 — parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Read More Movie & TV Reviews
Copyright © 2026 OSV News
