'Midwinter Break': The Things We Don't Say

Academy Award® nominees Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds star in this emotionally-charged film, which has Lisa M. Hendey thinking about the things that go unsaid in our relationships.

When I sat in the theater to screen MIDWINTER BREAK, I went in completely blind. Even though the film is based on the novel of the same name by Bernard MacLaverty, I hadn’t read the book, and I really didn’t know much about its notable co-stars. At the end of a busy day, I was just relieved to sit in the dark and watch a movie. Ninety minutes later, I emerged from the darkness with tears streaming down my face and my heart in my hands.

Synopsis:

In MIDWINTER BREAK, retired long-time couple Stella and Gerry (Academy Award® nominees Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds) travel from their home in Glasgow to Amsterdam for an impromptu holiday. Traversing the beautiful European city, they find themselves freed from the staid routines that have come to define their lives. But as the hours pass, Stella and Gerry realize that after decades together, their relationship has reached a crossroads. After so much time and so many memories, long-held promises and deeply concealed wounds threaten to come to light and force them to confront their future. Based on the acclaimed novel by Bernard MacLaverty, first-time feature director Polly Findlay crafts a powerful debut that poses important questions about the nature of faith and commitment, and the enduring power of love. Source: Focus Features

Watch the Trailer:

While this film has its origins in a story related to The Troubles and one married couple’s connection to that tempestuous period in history, it is their decades-long marriage that had me rapt. Greg and I will have been married for forty years in May. While we are younger than Stella and Gerry, we have grown up together. After an opening flashback that will prove critical to their relationship, we meet Stella and Gerry again years into their time together. It’s Christmas. They are empty nesters. She heads off to Mass while he stays home with a book and some booze. But the problems that seem to be at the core of their marriage go unspoken, even as they scream at us, the audience. This long-term couple seems determined not to rock the boat that has carried them so far together. 

Returning home later from church, Stella decides to surprise Gerry with a holiday trip to Amsterdam. He receives her gift with delight. And off they go, ready for an adventure in the picturesque “Venice of the North.” The city of Amsterdam is so beautifully presented in the film. We visit cultural sites and cafes with Gerry and Stella, but we also see each of their perspectives when they split up to pursue their own interests. Not surprisingly, Gerry finds a record shop and a bar. But Stella has returned to a site that they initially visited together. In retrospect, this place, the Begijnhof, seems to have been the impetus for her trip. 

The Story of a Turning Point in a Marriage

Without spoiling the conflict that lies at the heart of this film’s plot, I will say that Stella’s obsession with this community, which she believes houses lay women who have made religious vows, creates a turning point in her marriage. You’ll need to see the film to find out what happens. But let me just say that as I watched, I thought of so many moments in my own life when my faith journey has impacted my relationships, for better or worse.

I also thought of so many women I know who torture themselves emotionally based on the spiritual lives of their loved ones. I know … I did this for years myself before finally realizing that the only relationship with God I can control is my own. I will never stop praying for those I love. But I have decided to stop beating myself up for other people’s decisions. Instead, I will love my loved ones right where they are. Greg and I were married for many years before he came into the Church. During those years, I made so many wrong choices.

One of the worst of them was neglecting to share how I truly felt about this important topic with my life partner. I obsessed about it for years, but I held those fears, anxieties, and longings deep inside myself, never communicating them to my husband. I will never stop thanking God that Greg and I can now cherish our faith home together. But I also understand now that the way in which we live our faiths — how we pray, for example — will always be different, and that is absolutely good, true, and beautiful.

Gerry’s drinking is obviously a problem for Stella. He somehow stashes alcohol in his suitcase and sneaks drinks when she is not looking. But I had the sense that Gerry’s alcoholism was less an issue to Stella than his utter lack of any faith life. The more Gerry turns from God, the more Stella runs toward God, and away from her husband. So much goes unsaid between the spouses. But at a critical moment, the dam breaks, and the words that have remained dormant within them for decades finally erupt and burst forth.

MIDWINTER BREAK is not an action movie, but I found it deeply engrossing. Ultimately, it addresses the heart-wrenching issues of a married couple at a crossroads in their relationship. This film asks us to examine many hard issues, including faith, our evolving identities and relationships, addiction, and depression. Under it all is a quest for hope and meaning. See MIDWINTER BREAK to learn the story of Stella and Gerry. Then ponder it deeply to consider how this story reflects your own lived reality.

This film is rated PG-13 for thematic material involving alcoholism, some strong language, bloody images, and suggestive material.

A question for you:

Have you ever had a hard time discussing something that mattered deeply to you with someone important in your life? 

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Copyright 2026 Lisa M. Hendey
Images: copyright 2026 FocusFeatures.com

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