Focus Features has released the official trailer for “Midwinter Break,” announcing a theatrical release date of February 20, 2026, for the film. Directed by Polly Findlay and based on the novel by Bernard MacLaverty, the project is positioned as an intimate two-hander for Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds, centering on a longtime couple whose short trip abroad becomes something far more consequential.
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The film’s script is based on MacLaverty’s own work and Nick Payne’s adaptation, the screenwriter of “The Last Letter from Your Lover” and “We Live in Time.” That pairing underlines the adaptation’s literary roots: an author reworking his own book for the screen alongside a writer associated with contemporary relationship-driven drama. “Midwinter Break” is explicitly described in the official synopsis as “a stirring meditation on faith, commitment, and the enduring power of love, as a longtime couple takes a life-changing trip to Amsterdam,” with the city serving as the backdrop for whatever emotional turning point awaits them.
Behind the camera, the production is anchored by Guy Heeley (Shoebox Films) and Floor Onrust (Family Affair Films) as producers. Executive producers include David Kimbangi and Ollie Madden for Film4, Sean Greenhorn and Steven Little for Creative Scotland, and Dave Bishop and James Pugh for Protagonist Pictures, indicating a UK-European financing and production mix consistent with the source material’s origins. The film is presented, distributed, and released in theaters by Focus Features, a company that has long specialized in adult-oriented, book-based dramas.
The synopsis maintains a deliberately broad focus, concentrating on tone and theme rather than specific plot details: a couple embarking on a midwinter journey to Amsterdam, and exploring questions of faith, commitment, and enduring love. What’s clear from the materials is the emphasis on an older pair at a pivotal moment, rather than a younger, early-romance story. With Manville and Hinds as the marquee names and a release date locked for February 20, 2026, “Midwinter Break” arrives as a straightforwardly framed adaptation: novel, screenwriters, cast, and a concise promise that this particular “break” will be life-changing.
