In the Bleak Midwinter (film)

In the Bleak Midwinter
Directed by	Kenneth Branagh
Written by	Kenneth Branagh
Produced by	David Barron
Starring	Richard Briers Hetta Charnley Joan Collins Nicholas Farrell Mark Hadfield Gerard Horan Celia Imrie Michael Maloney Julia Sawalha
Cinematography	Roger Lanser
Edited by	Neil Farrell
Music by	Jimmy Yuill
Production company	Castle Rock Entertainment
Distributed by	Rank-Castle Rock/Turner[1]
Release dates	10 September 1995 (1995-09-10) (Toronto International Film Festival) 1 December 1995 (1995-12-01) (UK)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$0.8 million (UK/USA)

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.^[2]