A Midwinter's Tale (1995)

Original title

In the Bleak Midwinter

Directed by

Kenneth Branagh

Genre

romantic comedy, Christmas film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 39m

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 44 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A down-and-out actor tries to save a church from developers by staging a Christmas production of Hamlet. He assembles a motley group of performers, each with their own problems, and they put on the show in a small village.

wittypoignantquirkytheatricalbittersweetlow-keyaffectionategentle

What happens

In the Bleak Midwinter (released in the US as A Midwinter's Tale) is a 1995 British romantic comedy film written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. Many of the roles in the film were written for specific actors. This was the first film directed by Branagh in which he did not appear. The film begins with a monologue by out-of-work actor Joe Harper (Michael Maloney) about his slow decline into depression. In an attempt to beat his depression, Joe volunteers to help try to save his sister's local church from land developers for the community by putting on a Christmas production of Hamlet, somewhat against the advice of his agent Margaretta (Joan Collins). As the cast he assembles are still available even at Christmas and are prepared to do it on a 'profit sharing' basis (that is, they may not get paid anything), he cannot expect – and does not get – the cream of the cream. But although they all bring their own problems and foibles along, something bigger starts to emerge in the perhaps aptly named village of Hope. This film encapsulates the hilarious and heartbreaking struggle of actor versus situation versus life, and often versus each other. It was shot in black and white. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• Cold Comfort Farm (1995)
• Sense and Sensibility (1995)
• A Holiday to Remember (1995)
• El efecto mariposa (1995)
• Reckless (1995)
• The Christmas Box (1995)
• The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995)
• Love Actually (2003)