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,...