The Case of Dr. Laurent

A doctor from Paris settles in a small country town and tries to explain that birth can be done without pain. He argues for women going into labour with breathing and preparation. The town resists: the local physician, the midwife and the women themselves all distrust anything new. Then a young woman pregnant outside marriage agrees to give birth by his method. Jean-Paul Le Chanois directed, with Jean Gabin as the doctor. The birth scene at the end of the film is shot directly and without decoration, an extremely bold choice for the time. The producers turned that scene into a sensation in the publicity, while the film's own tone is calm and instructive. The telling shows the town's stubbornness not as stupidity but as fear of the unknown.