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Midwinter Break’ Opens Friday With Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds at the Fore of a Somber Marital Drama

Early reviews spotlight Lesley Manville opposite Ciarán Hinds, with many describing a somber, compressed Amsterdam-set adaptation.

Overview

  • Focus Features releases the PG-13 drama in theaters on Feb. 20 with a 90-minute runtime.
  • Polly Findlay makes her feature debut directing an adaptation of Bernard MacLaverty’s 2017 novel co-written with Nick Payne.
  • The story follows a retired Irish couple on a short trip to Amsterdam where long-standing differences quietly come to the surface.
  • Critics broadly praise the two leads yet note a slow pace and a loss of the novel’s interior depth in translation to screen.
  • Shot on location by cinematographer Laurie Rose, the film uses canals, De Pijp and the Rijksmuseum to shape its wintry atmosphere.