Midwinter Break

Midwinter Break Review: Not short, but sweet

Brighton Nelson

19 Feb 2026 — 5 min read

Ever since the film started being promoted, I was intrigued by Midwinter Break because I didn't really know what it was going to be about, other than a couple going to Amsterdam. I haven't checked out the book, nor did I do much research on it, so I went in blind here and was quite intrigued. And, did the film hook me as much as the promotional material got me interested? That's what I, Brighton Nelson, will be talking about in today's Reel Ranker review.

For anybody who's been around on the Reel Ranker before, I usually start with the negatives and move into the positives, but I felt like this would be a good review to switch it around. The best part about this film is definitely the performances and the chemistry between the two leads, Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds. They bounce off each other in a believable, nuanced way that really highlights how a strained, age-old relationship feels. This is accentuated by Hannah Peel's awesome score, which had to be my second-favorite part of the film. Both of these elements really bring the film to life, even amidst the rest of the film struggling to do so effectively.

Movie Review: In 'Midwinter Break,' a quiet marriage story with Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds | News, Sports, Jobs - News and Sentinel — While I appreciated the portrayal of a marriage slowly fizzling out, a well-acted movie doesn't make a good movie.

However, the reason I started with the good here was that, well, there's not a lot of it. This film is simply boring. I have nothing against a slow-burn, but this film struggles to find a hook that really justifies telling this story. I love the idea of a nuanced struggle, yet the film takes around an hour to even establish that the relationship is in shambles. While I could sense from the beginning that this was the problem, it took so long to get to the core of it that by the end, when we got a subdued resolution, I simply didn't really care about this couple anymore. While I feel bad for the lady that her husband had a drinking problem and that he didn't care about her Catholicism, the man is simply not anywhere near cruel enough for me to feel so bad for her that I want to watch a whole movie about it. While I've been in a relationship where there's a lack of care, and I get how that's a very real topic that should be explored in film, this was so subdued that there wasn't much to cling onto.

The majority of Midwinter Break is just the wife discovering more about Catholicism while the husband continues to drink a lot. That's really the problem with this film: it oversimplifies such a complicated relationship down to two problems. While the acting presents more layers there, the script doesn't. The film also flashbacks to a miracle that happened to her, but it never really provides any resolution on what happened. Basically, after she gets beat up while pregnant, it's alluded to that God saved her child from being killed, we never get to see any flashbacks of the kid grown up. It's sad, because, if we'd gotten multiple flashbacks about the three of them as a family and how they used to be such a strong family before the drinking problems, the film could've been a lot more potent.

Midwinter Break - Official Trailer - IGN — These two's performances carry the otherwise drab film.

While the two leads start to make up at the end of the film, the three-or-so minute scene is by no means worth sitting through all the build up for it. Midwinter Break works far better as a 256 page book. While reading that book obviously takes more time than watching this film, a book's pacing and a film's pacing are far different. Also, MacLaverty's prose alone makes these characters' journey far more interesting in the book, whereas this film simply has no cinematographic prose that is able to make the film profoundly or beautiful... a shame, especially since Amsterdam is such a beautiful place, yet only a couple locations are even explored in the city, as the hotel, bar, and church are the set pieces for 90% of the film.

The Reel Ranker Verdict

Reel or Unreel? - Unreel
The Reel Ranker Score: 39%
Letter Score: D+
Star Ranking: 2 out of 5

While Midwinter Break has solid chemistry and performances at its heart, the film's narrative is drawn out ad nauseam, even though it only runs 90 minutes. If you love Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds, their great performances might be enough to hook you into this film, but otherwise, I wouldn't recommend watching this film, even if you love romance-related dramas.

Interested in checking out my reviews for some other recent romantic dramas? Check them out below!