52 Films by Women Vol 10. 15. MIDWINTER BREAK (Director: Polly Findlay)
Adapted by Bernard
Maclaverty in collaboration with screenwriter Nick Payne (We Live In Time) from Maclaverty’s 2017 novel, the film ostensibly
begins on Christmas Eve with retired school teacher, Stella (Manville) heading
out to Midnight Mass at her local church in Glasgow. ‘Sure I can’t tempt you?’
she asks husband Gerry (Hinds), who is sitting in his armchair, drinking. I
write ‘ostensibly’ because there’s a wee bit of voiceover over images of
children’s legs running and the legs of a young pregnant woman in a yellow
dress just before she is caught up in an act of violence; the film does not
refer to it as terrorism. The family, a couple and their baby son, took the
ferry out of their troubled country and settled in Scotland. They grew old
together, but their habits eat away at one another.
Returning home,
Stella finds Gerry asleep. She goes to the computer and impulsively books a
short break to Amsterdam, sealing the booking summary in a white envelope
decorated with a shiny golden gift rosette and tucking it in the tree. In the
morning, after leaving an answerphone message for their grown-up son, Michael,
who is ‘settling in to his new abode’, Stella hands the envelope to Gerry. He
is exceptionally pleased. In the next scene, the couple are hurrying for their
taxi, Stella about to phone the company (‘it’s been seven minutes’), Gerry
worrying about his shampoo (‘the special one, what’s it called again?’) The
dialogue is intentionally ordinary. Aside from their trauma, Stella and Gerry
are unremarkable. There is a moment when one of the couple crosses from one
room to another and the camera stays focussed on the front door. Findlay lowers
the audience’s expectations of high drama. The film’s most arresting piece of physical
action involves Gerry slipping in the bath. Otherwise panic is illustrated by Gerry
being unable to find his statins.
This is a couple who
can afford a taxi to Glasgow Airport and a taxi from Schiphol to downtown
Amsterdam. On the plane, Stella slips Gerry a boiled sweet. One of them takes a
tablet to prevent vomiting. ‘This is nice,’ Stella says when the couple arrive
at their Amsterdam hotel. When they get to their room, Gerry wants to lie down.
There are chocolates on the pillows, one for each of them. So far, so ordinary.
After their nap, they enquire at reception whether there are any reasonably
priced places to drink. They find themselves in an Irish-themed bar. Gerry
complains about amplification. Stella watches him as he orders from the bar but
can’t make out what the barmaid is saying. When we next see them, they are
leaving. There is no hint where the drama might be heading.
The next day, after breakfast,
they head for Begijnhof, a place Stella is keen to visit; it is, as we
discover, the reason for the trip. Het Begijnhof is a housing estate for
single, religiously devout single women. It contains 108 apartments and dates
back over 600 years. In an attempt to find the Catholic church situated within
it, the couple meet Kathy (Niamh Cusack), one of the residents. Her Irishness
surprises Stella. Kathy offers them directions. Inside the chapel, Stella is
transfixed by the stained-glass window. She does not beckon Gerry, who is
otherwise amused by a Catholic ‘graphic novel’.
The exploration of
Begijnhof contrasts with their visit to the Rijksmuseum, where they pass a
group of students dressed in white studying a painting; one girl is kneeling
down. It is as if art fulfils the role of religion in providing comfort. Stella
feels a little tired (‘I’ve been on my pins all day’). ‘I cannot not see ‘The
Night Watch’’, says Gerry, referring to Rembrandt’s 1642 painting, the museum’s
most famous exhibit. He agrees to meet her at the cafeteria.
You could be
forgiven in thinking that the drama has been constructed to promote the city of
Amsterdam. It certainly has that effect. There is a scene where the couple
wander down an alley at night and Gerry explains the origin of the red-light
district (‘when a place was open, a red lantern was hung outside’). As Stella
watches Gerry consume alcohol, we are aware that there is a conversation to be
had. The trip certainly catalyses their love life, as they turn towards each
other on the bed in the late afternoon, kiss and disrobe, Gerry struggling with
his top. His belly is an encumbrance; Hinds parks his vanity at the door.
The tension between
them slowly increases as Gerry shouts from the bathroom to ask Stella if she
knows where his statins are. Stella is kneeling on her side of the bed,
silently praying, and does not answer. He
steps out to look at her. She maintains her silent prayer. Eventually, she
tells him to look in the washbag. A visit to Anne Frank’s House shows the
widening gap between them. Noting that others have left offerings on a shelf,
Stella takes out one of her earrings and leaves it by way of honouring the
dead. She explains this gesture to Gerry at the dinner, in a way that the audience
might understand, referring to the scene at the end of Schindler’s List in which pebbles are placed on top of graves.
It is during this conversation that Stella reveals her desire to live her life
in a more meaningful way, to contribute something. We find out exactly what she
means when she returns to Het Begijnhof, is told to wait outside by a woman in
an office and runs into Kathy who invites her to see her apartment. ‘Very
cosy,’ Stella remarks.
Pictured: Searching for Het Begijnhof. Gerry (Ciarán Hinds, left) and Stella (Lesley Manville, right) consult the map in the Amsterdam-set marital drama and Bernard Maclaverty adaptation, 'Midwinter Break', directed by Polly Findlay. Still courtesy of Focus Features
It is also a morning
in which Gerry goes for a drink and explains to the bartender that he used to
be an architect. His office, burned down by the Irish Republican Army, had
papier mache models of the buildings that the firm designed. ‘All that work
destroyed,’ he laments. The bartender takes time to pour Gerry’s stout, leaving
it to settle before completely filling the glass. ‘Look at the dome on that,’
Gerry remarks. The barman doesn’t know quite how to respond. He faces Gerry as
he hears his story, rather than busy himself, but he has no perspective to
offer. It is almost as if the barman wonders why Gerry is talking to him at
all.
Gerry then makes his
way to a ‘vintage’ record store and rifles through stacks of 12-inch album
vinyl albums. Findlay returns to this scene after Stella tells her story to Kathy,
so we hear the music Gerry is listening to. It’s a crude contrast and didn’t
work for me. Neither did the flashback of young pregnant Stella lying on the
ground after ‘the event’ which in her eyes she miraculously survived.
Undoubtedly their
marriage is in trouble. At the airport, Stella is critical of Gerry’s alcohol
consumption. Then their plane is delayed as snow begins to settle.
The song over the
end credits, ‘This Time Tomorrow’ by the Kinks is slightly better judged than ‘The
Great Pretender’. This is a film in which even music from the era in which
Gerry and Stella were young seems intrusive. Findlay’s staging of the symbolic
burning of Gerry’s architectural models lacks impact. The actors have already
achieved the effect for her.
‘Wars in the name of
religion. What are they for?’ Gerry’s question, at the heart of scepticism
towards Stella’s faith, resonates to the present. Except that modern wars are
more about money and vanity than religious fidelity. It is unclear exactly when
the film is set. Neither Gerry nor Stella have a mobile phone. A news report on
the television refers to the New IRA. We imagine the action takes place in the
early 2000s. Findlay keeps her camera on her actors. She rarely uses a point-of-view
shot when situating them in a location. The incidental music by Hannah Peel is
discreet and does its job. Manville and Hinds inhabit the characters without
resorting to acting flourishes. Less is more. A pause. A hesitant look. These
work.
Reviewed at Screen Two, Curzon Westgate Canterbury, Kent, Southern England, Tuesday 31 March 2026, 12:00 midday screening
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