‘Midwinter Break’ Asks, What Does It Mean To Make A Promise To God?
(REVIEW) “Midwinter Break” is a film that, from its synopsis, seems quaint and charming. Married couple Stella and Gerry are retired and in the routine of life. Stella buys tickets for the pair to have a weekend getaway in Amsterdam at the start of the new year and they go together happily.
It is quaint at times, to be sure: It amplifies the charm of the city and is, at its heart, a movie about two people who really love each other. Leads Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds share great chemistry and are powerhouse actors in their own right.
But beyond the charm, the movie presents a series of severe conflicts tangled together. The couple is on the brink of divorce, each struggling with their own vices and inner turmoil, and trauma from decades past threatens to unravel them both.
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The movie is based on a novel of the same name by Bernard MacLaverty, whose work often explores faith as a cornerstone in the lives of individuals. “Midwinter Break” is no different, and it in fact creates the key difference between the married couple.
Stella is a practicing Catholic; Gerry is not.
It’s present from the somewhat harmless opening of the film — Stella attends an evening mass while Gerry stays home listening to music — and remains an important point of contention all the way to the eruption of tension between the pair.
Early on in their trip, the other key struggle is revealed: Gerry is a functioning alcoholic, drinking in secret while Stella bathes.
Tensions are high at the start, but they remain safely tucked away underneath the surface. Even throughout, as things between them devolve, the couple shares joyful moments together. But an eruption is inevitable.
The narrative begins to shift toward Stella, highlighting her feelings, fears and hopes for the future. This is one of the movie’s greatest strengths; as fascinating as the relationship between the pair is, Stella’s internal conflict is much more complex and moving.
She begins to become more aware of — and more bothered by — Gerry’s drinking. She reflects on the past: when, newly married and pregnant, she was shot by a stray bullet and nearly died with her unborn child. She reveals a desire for change in the later years of her life: she wants to become more devout in her faith.
She’s decided her one shot at it is within the Begijnhof, a quiet community of homes built in Amsterdam in the 1300s for the Catholic sisterhood the Begijntjes. She’s determined, husband aside, that she’ll join the community of nuns and be able to fully devote her life to God.
Throughout the trip, Gerry tries his best to be receptive to these desires when Stella shares them, but there’s always a disconnect. It culminates in Stella baring her soul to a near-stranger, a woman who lives in the community. She at last reveals the source of her desire: in the moment she thought she was going to die, she made a promise that she’d devote her life to God if he saved the life of her child.
After all this time, she feels she hasn’t kept that promise — and it’s tearing her apart.
It's a special scene because it displays a rare moment of human connection; Stella is at the end of her rope, and she gets just one moment of grace from another person. They don't know each other at all, which makes such a serious conversation almost a social faux pas, but this is the most vulnerable and revealing she's been the whole movie, and it ultimately pays off.
The movie also asks what it means to make a promise to God, and how to know when that promise has been fulfilled.
Part of the beauty is that, to this outsider’s perspective, Stella has devoted her life to God. She’s been a good wife and mother; she’s been a regular churchgoer. She’s been humble and kind. But because she hasn’t become a nun, been made a martyr or made some great theological discovery, she doesn’t think she’s done enough. She wants to give her life to God in the same way that God gave life to her.
Surely this is a relatable sentiment to some. It doesn't require the level of trauma Stella suffered to feel the urge to do more or be more pious.
The movie doesn’t settle on an easy answer, which is for the best. Everyone who feels they should give more to God can’t become a nun to fix things up. Even that alone suggests Stella shouldn’t have become a nun in the first place; her motives were connected more to her personal desires and feelings of inadequacy than any real desire to serve.
Stella doesn’t get her dream come true, but she does start to accept her life and the knowledge that she's going to have to pursue change elsewhere. It leaves the movie’s conclusion somewhere in midair — and that works to its benefit. It’s a meditative movie on the nature of faith and relationships that’s sure to have an impact, particularly for those who believe their lives need a big change.
“Midwinter Break is playing now in select theaters.
Jillian Cheney is Religion Unplugged’s Senior Culture Correspondent. She writes about film, TV, music, art, books and more. Find her on X @_jilliancheney.