Midwinter Break, the British drama starring The Crown and Mrs Harris Goes to Paris actor Lesley Manville and Game of Thrones’ Ciarán Hinds, is available to watch at home after its cinema release.
The 2026 film is available to buy and rent digitally now, from online platforms such as Prime Video and Apple TV.
The story follows a couple who take a trip to Amsterdam as their relationship falters. However, the movie is as much a rumination on spirituality and faith as it is on love.
Universal
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Midwinter Break has a decent reception from critics, earning a 63% score on Rotten Tomatoes from 49 collected reviews.
The Guardian gave it a full five stars, praising the “substantial, intimate [and] complex performances”.
The review reads: “[Director] Polly Findlay’s barnstorming drama about interpersonal and religious tumult in late middle age is a triumph, swerving any sense of sentimentalism.”
“The performances cannot be faulted,” wrote the Irish Times. “Hinds and Manville skilfully convey a relationship founded on the most fragile of intertwining insecurities. We get a sense that both understand the evasions they are making and accept them for fear of bringing the whole structure down upon their heads.”
Focus Features
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Variety opined: “Adapting a 2017 novel by Bernard MacLaverty (the script is by MacLaverty and Nick Payne), [Findlay] creates a generous space for her actors, who turn what might have been a rather staid movie – and still, at times, is – into a meticulous duet.”
Punch Drunk Critics said: “It’s the kind of quietly magnificent film that asks you to sit with it patiently, absorbing the myriad of emotions expressed by its wonderful leads. The reward is that it will then sit with you long after the credits have rolled.”
Midwinter Break is now available to buy and rent digitally from various online outlets.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.