THE MIDWIFE – Review

(l-r) Catherine Deneuve as Béatrice Sobolevski and Catherine Frot as Claire Breton in THE MIDWIFE. Photo by Michaâl Crotto. Courtesy of Music Box Films ©

Two great Catherines – Deneuve and Frot – star in THE MIDWIFE, a thoughtful French-language tale of family, childhood memories, and changing life in modern France. As the title suggests, one of the central characters is a midwife, but the film is not about midwifery. Still the film uses the profession’s long and honorable history bringing the next generation into this world as a metaphor a changing French world. It is also telling that the French term for midwife, sage femme, also means “wise woman.”

The film is moving, touching, bittersweet and funny by turns, and an excellent exploration of relationship between women of differing generations. The midwife in the film, Claire (Catherine Frot), is a really good one, the best at the little childbirth clinic near Paris where she works. But the small old-fashioned clinic is closing down, unable to compete with the big modern hospital nearby. Claire resists the idea of going to work for the big hospital, as she resists so many other changes. Meanwhile, at home, Claire put aside her own personal life to concentrate on being a single parent raising her son, now a student in medical school.

Unexpectedly, her late father’s long-ago mistress, Beatrice (Catherine Deneuve) turns up, wanting to re-connect after all these years. Beautiful, elegant Beatrice is still particular about her appearance but she’s clearly in the skids, flat broke after a life of serial affairs and years of gambling. Now suffering from a brain tumor, Beatrice reaches out to her one-time almost stepdaughter but Claire responds coolly to Beatrice’s efforts to rekindle their once-close bond. That Claire speaks to Beatrice at all, given how she left Claire’s father, is the greater mystery. As the story progresses, we learn the tragic and complicated history between them, as this intriguing family drama unfolds.

Writer/director Martin Provost brings together these two great French actresses in a story written specifically for them. The story is both about the characters’ personal journey and, more indirectly, about a changing France, Paris in particular. Several scenes in the movie allude to shifts in French society, from the world of cafe and smart shops of the past, to the modern diverse city of the present, but all is told through the relationship between these two women. Beatrice’s character represents that past, while Claire is the transition to the present, with her son representing the future on the horizon.

The director also offers gentle commentary on changes to the physical world of Paris and environs. In one scene, a bucolic view down the Seine River, on whose banks Claire has a little vegetable garden plot, is disrupted by the sudden appearance of a high-speed train streaking across the old-fashioned stone bridge. In another scene, a neighbor takes Claire on a woodland hike to a limestone bluff, hidden from view, with a breathtaking view of the distant modern Paris. The forest opening up to the bluff’s unexpected view of the modern city produce a startling juxtaposition of the past and present, as well as the natural world and man’s changes to it.

With firm but never heavy-handed guidance from Provost, Deneuve and Frot explore the complexity of their shared history and feelings, and of France then and now, in an acting tour-de-force. This film is a must-see for fans of either actress, for fans of French culture, or those who might enjoy a well-drawn feminist view of the inner lives of women and their relationships with each other. THE MIDWIFE is a warm-hearted, intelligent film as full of life as the profession in the title suggests.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars