A couple takes a vacation to Amsterdam in “Midwinter Break,” a staid drama about the stresses of longtime partnership. Stella (Lesley Manville) is a retired teacher and practicing Catholic. Her husband, Gerry (Ciaran Hinds), is a retired architect with a taste for alcohol. Though they met in Ireland, the pair relocated to Glasgow during the Troubles to raise their son in a more stable setting. Now empty nesters, the couple, according to Stella, have become “exiles from each other.”
Directed by Polly Findlay and based on a novel by the Irish writer Bernard MacLaverty (who wrote the screenplay with Nick Payne), “Midwinter Break” is a slow-moving, old-fashioned film, with a sappy score and mellow mood. For much of their Amsterdam trip, Stella and Gerry treat each other amiably, keeping to the polite etiquette and easy silences that come with decades of marriage. But the cozy atmosphere splinters when Stella confesses her longing to lead “a more devout life.”
The film’s main trouble is the pacing. The inciting incident is apparently Stella booking the vacation in the first scene. But precious little conflict occurs until long afterward, when Stella finally confronts her husband about feeling unfulfilled. Gerry responds to Stella’s admission with near bewilderment, and one can’t really blame him: Their time together seems perfectly sweet, if a little vanilla.
The saving grace of “Midwinter Break” is the pair of stellar leads, who would be appealing to watch just fumbling for their reading glasses. That also happens to be the pinnacle of action, however, within this prosaic drama.
Midwinter Break Rated PG-13 for drinking and disillusionment. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. In theaters.
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