Midwinter Break
Focus Features | Release Date: February 20, 2026 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 16 Critic Reviews
Positive:
8
Mixed:
8
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 19, 2026
The film creates space for Hinds and Manville to give substantial, intimate, complex performances of the kind that most movies (of whatever sort) do not allow their leads, and Manville in particular is very moving. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubTara Bennett Feb 19, 2026
Midwinter Break is most interested in the realities of long-term relationships—with unfaced trauma and graceful forgiveness alike—more than concrete absolutes, which is what makes it a valuable meditation on the imperfection of marriage. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonFeb 18, 2026
Polly Findlay’s adaptation of Bernard MacLaverty’s 2017 novel is a serious attempt to delve into a complex marriage, and fortunately for such heavy material it contains two winning performances from Manville (so delightful in “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris”) and Hinds (“Is This Thing On?”). Read full review
75
The Associated PressLindsey BahrFeb 18, 2026
An adaptation of a Bernard MacLaverty novel of the same name, “Midwinter Break” is a delicate film that stays in a minor key, but whose impact is profound if you can get on its level. Read full review
70
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeMar 19, 2026
A humane work devised by serious minds. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanMar 6, 2026
Midwinter Break does nothing earth-shattering (it remains wee), but the movie touchingly colors in how it might be possible for two people to know each other too well and also not well enough. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleFeb 23, 2026
Without gimmicks or pomp (save a picturesque setting) and through the supreme talents of Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds, it offers up an affecting two-hander about a couple on the brink who’ve never really acknowledged said precipice. As directed with low-key confidence by Polly Findlay, the movie is both good and, in a certain way, good enough. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Aparita BhandariFeb 19, 2026
Fortunately, Midwinter Break stars two seasoned actors who are not even close to the winter of their careers. Both bring grace and gravitas to their characters, conveying their personal crises with humanity. Read full review
58
Original-CinKim HughesFeb 20, 2026
Much as I had hoped to love it given its cast and source material, Midwinter Break just never took flight. Not all great books make great movies. Read full review
50
Screen RantGregory NussenMar 6, 2026
To put it simply: it's just not very stimulating to watch two people who have a hard time talking... have a hard time talking. Stella and Gerry's love may be stuck in the wintry cold, but so is the film, utterly unable to be thawed. Read full review
50
The Travers TakePeter TraversFeb 20, 2026
Watching Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds is usually time well spent, but this woebegone wintery love story makes you want to jump into an Amsterdam canal. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiFeb 20, 2026
On paper, this sounds like a potentially fascinating combination but the film emerging from it proves to be anything but that. Instead, it proves to be such an overly ponderous exercise that, by the time it finally comes to an end, you may feel so sapped of energy that find yourself struggling to get up out of your seat. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithFeb 19, 2026
Ms. Findlay’s work is nevertheless so delicate as to be slight, so unassuming as to be unsatisfying. The friction between the two leads could form a strong backdrop to the film; instead, it is the film. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNatalia WinkelmanFeb 19, 2026
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. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterCaryn JamesFeb 19, 2026
Although Manville and Hinds are always worth watching, it’s obviously a problem when the actors and the scenery so thoroughly overshadow a film’s story. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonFeb 18, 2026
Hinds and Manville do a credible job of portraying a marriage that has run its course, and their best work occurs in the silences that pass between their characters, Gerry and Sheila. Read full review
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