The Midwife

To see two fine performances, matched by a supporting cast, in itself makes a movie worth seeing and “The Midwife” fits that category which also has a warm, witty screenplay by Martin Provost who also directed. Beatrice (Catherine Deneuve) is the complete opposite of Claire (Catherine Frot) with the latter being a single mother of a son, (Quentin Dolmaire), who is attending medical school, who works the graveyard shift and leads a quiet, organized, vegetarian, unromantic life being concerned mainly with her job as a midwife in a small clinic. Beatrice has indulged herself her whole life flitting all over, never committing to one person or thing, gambling, drinking, mooching off the few friends she has, is constantly pleasure seeking and, thirty or so years ago had been the mistress of Claire’s father. Having recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor and cancer—this film was made way before McClain’s diagnosis—Beatrice comes searching for her ex-lover only to find his daughter who tells her he is dead. The scenes between Claire, the well behaved, proper woman and Beatrice, anything but, are delicious scenes as they give as well as they get. They interact, sharing companionship and when Paul (Olivier Gourmet) enters the film as a potential romantic interest for Claire you can’t wait to see when, if, Beatrice ruins it. With the cancer angle, this could have turned into a soap opera but watching Beatrice ordering wine, eating fatty meat, having dessert and smoking knowing that none are positive in her coming fight with cancer she is so exasperating yet endearing that Clair can’t turn away from her. There is an interesting subplot dealing with Clair’s job and the clinic she works in has to close because the job of a midwife is fading in place of what is called ‘baby technicians’ plus her son is not only thinking of quitting medical school but his girlfriend is pregnant. No, not a soap opera, but things that can happen in life to make/help people change. In regards to this, it is great seeing a film—usually French—is not shy about showing a baby actually being born or a mother openly nursing her baby without hiding her breast. “The Midwife” is the wonder of watching two women bring magic to the screen in a delightful, warm, absorbing and winning story about relationships and how opposites can help each other.