The Midwife

Claire is a midwife. She has done the same work for thirty years and the maternity unit she works in is closing; a large centre is taking its place and she does not want to work there. Her son is studying medicine and going his own way. One day the phone rings: Béatrice. She was the woman Claire's father was with many years ago; she walked out one day and he died afterwards. Now she has a brain tumour and nowhere to go. Claire takes her in. The two are alike in nothing: one is orderly and careful, the other gambles, drinks and takes nothing seriously. Martin Provost writes and directs. Catherine Frot plays Claire and Catherine Deneuve plays Béatrice. What the film is interested in is care; the narrative gives both birth and dying through the same character. The birth scenes were shot with real midwives and realistically; the narrative does not use them as dramatic peaks. The work of the two actors together carries the film and the narrative leaves neither of them one dimensional. The allotment sections are its second strand; Claire works her plot at the weekends and meets someone there. Its limit is predictability; the narrative goes where it is expected and the ending is sentimental. Provost had made films built on women's characters before and this belongs to that line. Who it is for: viewers who like French character drama and two hander narratives. Who it is not for: little happens, the pace is slow, and the plot is familiar.