Sage femme (2017)

A midwife gets unexpected news from her father's old mistress.

Director:

Martin Provost

Writers:

Martin Provost (dialogue), Martin Provost (screenplay)

Stars:

Catherine Deneuve, Catherine Frot, Olivier Gourmet

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Catherine Deneuve	...	Béatrice Sobo dite Sobolevski
Catherine Frot	...	Claire Breton
Olivier Gourmet	...	Paul Baron
Quentin Dolmaire	...	Simon
Mylène Demongeot	...	Rolande
Pauline Etienne	...	Cécile Amado - une patiente
Audrey Dana	...	La chef de service hôpital moderne
Pauline Parigot	...	Lucie
Marie Gili-Pierre	...	Evelyne
Jeanne Rosa	...	Élodie
Élise Oppong	...	Sophie
Ingrid Heiderscheidt	...	L'hôtesse d'accueil de la maternité
Jacques Mechelany	...	Francis
Ana Rodriguez	...	Patiente du bébé au cordon enroulé
Karidja Touré	...	Madame Naja - une patiente

Storyline

Claire is a midwife in a maternity hospital. She is humane and helpful and gives herself entirely to her patients. But despite that her life is not a bed of roses. Her hospital is about to close its doors and the devoted woman is determined not to work in the new modern hospital she regards as a "baby factory". Her personal life is no triumph either: she is single and does not make friends easily. To make matters worse, her student son Simon is gradually leaving home, as he is developing a relationship with his new sweetheart Lucie. It is the moment that Béatrice, her dead father's former mistress, chooses to resurface. The eccentric, spendthrift, sensual, amoral woman (Claire's exact opposite in fact) is really the last kind of person she needs to mix with. But Béatrice soon informs her that she suffers from brain cancer and she has nobody else to turn to. Torn between rejection and duty, what is Claire going to do?

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Plot Keywords:

midwife | brain cancer | bicycle | pregnancy | hospital | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Germany] Official site [Japan]

Country:

France Belgium

Language:

French

Release Date:

21 July 2017 (USA)

Also Known As:

El reencuentro

Filming Locations:

Paris, France

Box Office

Budget:

€7,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$21,341, 23 July 2017, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$603,582, 26 October 2017

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$402,918, 20 August 2017

Company Credits

Production Co:

Curiosa Films, France 3 Cinéma, Versus Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Catherine Frot actually delivered five babies during filming.

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Connections

Referenced in Breakfast: Episode dated 8 July 2017 (2017)

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Soundtracks

Ma liberté
Written by Georges Moustaki
Performed by Serge Reggiani

User Reviews

Virtues of a Foreign Film

Unlike many Hollywood films, I find that foreign films render the complexity of characters and relationships more akin to real life, and so it is in "The Midwife." The film also excels in giving us a context for the fraught relationship of the two women leads, Claire and Beatrice, but not with easy flashbacks or an improbable verbal summary; instead, their history unfolds the way it would in real life--in bits of dialogue that not only bring up the past but show us how, although buried by Claire and superficially dismissed by Beatrice, it has lingered sufficiently to scar them and to force them to come to new terms in addressing their present situation. I love the dimensionality of Claire: she has a job she loves (midwife in a hospital) but it's threatened by the hospital's drive for technology that will bring greater profits; she has a son who is also complex; a hobby (gardening); a fraught relationship with her mother; memories of her father that are both painful and loving. In short, she is a full- fledged human being. This is a fine film that centers on people, not violent or titillating events.