A Midwinter's Tale

A Midwinter's Tale

A Midwinter's Tale (also known as In the Bleak Midwinter) is a 1995 romantic comedy written and directed by Kenneth Branagh. Many of the roles in the film were written for specific actors.

"A Midwinter's Tale is a comic look at the actor's eternal despair." 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. 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 for artistic effect.

Richaed Briers, Nicholas Farrell and Michael Maloney, who all appear in this film, later had important roles in Branagh's 1996 film version of Hamlet: Briers played Polonius, Farrell played Horatio, and Maloney played Laertes.