Episode Summary: Director Polly Findlay on Adapting “Midwinter Break”

Podcast: Totally Booked with Zibby
Host: Zibby Owens
Guest: Polly Findlay, Director
Date: March 4, 2026

Episode Overview

In this episode, Zibby Owens welcomes Polly Findlay, acclaimed theater director-turned-filmmaker, to discuss her adaptation of the novel “Midwinter Break” into a poignant feature film. The conversation covers the complexities of translating literary themes to screen, the nuances of long-term relationships, spirituality and meaning in later life, and the director’s artistic approach. Brimming with both deep insight and light moments, the interview offers powerful reflections on aging, love, and the artistry of adaptation.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

Origin of the Film Adaptation

• Polly Findlay explains the source material and her entry into the project. Film4 and producer Guy Healy acquired the rights to the novel pre-publication and developed two drafts of a script before Polly was attached (04:23).
• Guy Healy sought her out based on her extensive experience in theatre, especially two-handers centered around complex, hard-to-express relationships (04:23).
• The material's focus on intimate, behavioral storytelling was a natural fit for Polly’s directorial instincts.

Synopsis & Central Themes

• Plot Premise: The film follows Geri and Stella, a Northern Irish couple living in Glasgow, as they contend with growing emotional distance after forty years of marriage. A trip to Amsterdam unearths past wounds and forces them to confront what remains unsaid (05:19).
• Universal Questions: Zibby points out, “How do you make meaning out of the time you have left? … What is it all about?” (06:04).
• Stella’s existential quest—grappling with mortality and spirituality—is foregrounded both in book and film.

Translation from Book to Screen

• Polly draws out how Stella’s character, as an Old English teacher in the novel, is naturally drawn to the mystical and sees “the miracle of daily life” (06:45).
• The film’s structure and visual storytelling accentuate the sense of “longing that runs all the way through it.”
• Quote: Polly: “There’s a bravery in her kind of determination to say, at this stage in my life, I’m going to go for the thing that I think is meaningful. And so many of us don’t do that.” (07:44)
• Leslie’s lead performance is praised for its subtlety and emotional expressiveness (08:27).

Depicting Relationships & Perspective

• The film uses both together and apart scenes to destabilize viewer sympathies and offer a fuller picture of both characters’ inner lives (09:00).
• Zibby appreciates how the narrative enables viewers to empathize with both Stella and Geri, particularly highlighted in the heartbreak of the airport scene (09:18).
• Disagreement and spiritual disconnects are explored with honesty: “How do you bridge [a disconnect]? I don’t know.” – Zibby (09:56)
• Polly emphasizes, “How difficult it is sometimes to keep faith in a person when your respective faiths are so different… every long-term relationship will come across [that]” (13:35).

Aging, Identity & Care

• The film specifically engages with the experiences of older adults—reflecting on purpose after children leave and the loneliness that can ensue (15:01).
• Polly notes the gendered aspects: “Particularly as a woman of that age, she spent…so much of her identity [being a mother]…she’s sort of looking back at her life and going, Oh, is that what I did?” (15:01)
• Zibby’s personal reflection: “It also made me want to never reject calls from my parents…” (15:48). Both agree on the intensity of seemingly small moments when seen from inside a relationship (16:11).

Artistic Choices & Production Challenges

• The film aspires to be “full of feeling without being sentimental”—resisting easy catharsis for truthfulness (17:16).
• Market challenges for films that don’t fit a simple genre or offer ready-made narrative resolutions (17:16).
• Polly shares anecdotes about shooting on location, especially in Amsterdam and recreating the Anne Frank Museum (19:08):
  • “They were very supportive…allowed us to film outside…but I think…I would have felt terrible crashing in there with cameras and a crew.” (19:08)
  • Production design created an authentic replica, which Zibby praised as remarkably accurate (20:02).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the nature of life and meaning:
  • “She talks [about] life being like a bird that flies in at one window…through…and is gone. And it’s just the journey of the bird through the building.” —Polly Findlay (07:14)
• On marriage and faith:
  • Polly: “His need to believe that what happened in the past…was determined by something that was rational…is no less an article of faith for him.” (13:35)
• On subtlety in acting:
  • Zibby: “She could just move a muscle—I’m like, does the face have that many muscles?” (08:27)

Craft & Future Projects

• Polly teases her next film: a thriller in collaboration with BBC Films and Fable Films, though details remain unannounced (20:35).
• Zibby’s closing praise: “I love your eye for the everyday, for the small moments that matter. Because that is what life is.” (20:57)
• Polly: “[That] was entirely my mission statement in going in to make it. So I’m so thrilled that’s what you’ve got from it.” (21:21)

Key Timestamps

• [03:42] – Zibby welcomes Polly and introduces “Midwinter Break”
• [04:23] – Polly shares how she became attached to the project
• [05:19] – Polly introduces the film’s premise and central characters
• [06:04 - 08:27] – Zibby and Polly discuss themes of mortality, meaning, and spirituality
• [09:00 - 09:56] – Depicting relationships and shifting perspectives
• [13:35] – Exploring faith, disagreement, and long-term commitment
• [15:01 - 16:11] – Reflections on aging, identity beyond parenting, and empathy
• [17:16] – The challenge of finding audiences for nuanced, unsentimental films
• [19:08 - 20:12] – Amsterdam filming, recreating sacred spaces, authenticity
• [20:35] – Polly previews her upcoming thriller project

Takeaway

This episode offers a thoughtful exploration of adapting nuanced literary fiction to film, performed with deep sensitivity to emotional truth and the rhythms of ordinary life. Polly Findlay and Zibby Owens illuminate how stories of aging, memory, marriage, and meaning find new resonance on the screen—a must-listen for film, book, and art lovers alike.