Cinema loves a high-stakes birth scene, but usually, it's all screaming, rushing through hallways, and a sudden, perfectly clean baby. Martin Provost’s The Midwife 2017—or Sage femme if you’re feeling fancy and French—is absolutely not that. It’s better. It’s grittier. Honestly, it’s one of those rare films that treats the profession of midwifery with a sort of exhausted, holy reverence while letting two titans of French acting, Catherine Frot and Catherine Deneuve, basically chew the scenery in the best way possible.
If you’re looking for a plot summary that fits on a postcard, it’s about Claire (Frot), a tightly wound, incredibly disciplined midwife, and Béatrice (Deneuve), the flamboyant, gambling, meat-eating ex-mistress of Claire’s late father. Béatrice pops back into Claire's life after decades because she’s sick and has nowhere else to go. That sounds like a "odd couple" trope, doesn't it? It is. But Provost handles it with such a lack of sentimentality that it never feels cheap.
The Midwife 2017 and the Reality of Vanishing Skills
One of the biggest things people miss about The Midwife 2017 is that it’s actually a eulogy. Claire isn't just a character; she’s a symbol of a dying breed of medical care. She works at a clinic that is being shut down in favor of a massive, sterile "super-hospital" where births are treated like an assembly line.
Claire hates it.
She prides herself on her "touch." There is a scene where she describes the sensation of feeling a baby’s position through the skin, a tactile expertise that a machine just can’t replicate. This reflects a real-world tension in European healthcare during the mid-2010s. For instance, mid-sized maternity wards across France were closing at an alarming rate, forcing women into high-volume centers. Provost captures that anxiety perfectly. Claire’s hands are her tools, but the modern world wants her to be a data entry clerk.
The contrast between Claire’s life and Béatrice’s chaos is where the film breathes. Béatrice is everything Claire isn’t. She drinks red wine like it's water, plays cards for money she doesn't have, and eats steak while Claire nibbles on vegetables from her allotment garden. It’s a clash of philosophies: the woman who lives for others versus the woman who lived only for herself.
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Why Catherine Deneuve is the Secret Weapon
Let’s be real. Deneuve is a legend, but playing Béatrice required a certain lack of vanity that was startling to see in 2017. She’s playing a woman facing her own mortality, someone who has burned every bridge and is now standing on the last one, trying to see if it’ll hold.
The chemistry isn't "mother-daughter." It’s "debtor-creditor."
Claire feels Béatrice owes her for the trauma of her father’s disappearance and eventual suicide. Béatrice, meanwhile, doesn't really do "guilt." She does "present moment." It’s fascinating to watch Frot’s face—which stays as still as a frozen lake—slowly crack under the pressure of Deneuve’s relentless, messy vitality.
Realism Over Hollywood Glamour
You’ve seen the "Hollywood birth," right? The one where the mom looks like she just stepped out of a salon? The Midwife 2017 goes the opposite direction. Provost used real footage of births. Actual babies being born. It’s visceral. It’s bloody. It’s loud.
Some critics at the time, like those writing for The Guardian or Variety, pointed out that these scenes might be "too much" for a casual Friday night moviegoer. But for anyone who has actually worked in a labor ward, it’s a breath of fresh air. The film respects the labor. It doesn't turn it into a montage.
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- Claire’s apartment: Small, cramped, filled with the silence of a woman who has forgotten how to have a personal life.
- The Garden: Her only escape, a literal plot of earth she can control.
- The Hospital: Fluorescent, cold, and increasingly hostile to her "old-fashioned" ways.
The film's pacing is deliberate. It doesn't rush. It follows the rhythm of a long shift. You feel the fatigue in Claire's shoulders. You feel the weight of the hospital bag.
A Legacy of Tactile Cinema
When we look back at The Midwife 2017, we have to talk about the sensory experience. Provost, who also directed Séraphine, is obsessed with how people work with their hands. Whether it’s a painter or a midwife, he wants to show the physical toll of creation.
There’s a subplot involving a truck driver played by Olivier Gourmet. He becomes a romantic interest for Claire. It’s handled with such a "middle-aged" sensibility—no grand gestures, just two people who are tired and lonely finding a bit of warmth. It’s incredibly grounding. It prevents the film from becoming a pure melodrama about Deneuve’s illness.
The Problem With Modern Maternity Care
The film indirectly critiques the "technocratization" of birth. In 2017, this was a hot-button issue in France. The "humanization" of the birthing process was being weighed against the efficiency of large medical groups. By centering the story on a woman who is essentially being forced into early retirement because she cares "too much" about the individual experience, the film makes a political statement without ever shouting it.
It's a quiet protest.
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Claire’s refusal to join the new hospital isn't just stubbornness. It’s an ethical stand. She refuses to be a part of a system that treats a newborn like a barcode.
Final Thoughts on The Midwife 2017
This isn't a film about a miraculous reconciliation. It’s a film about how we spend our remaining time and who we choose to spend it with. It’s about the fact that life is messy, birth is messy, and dying is messy, but there is a profound dignity in showing up for all of it.
If you haven't seen it, watch it for the performances. Watch it for the way it treats the female body with respect rather than as an object. Most of all, watch it to see two of the greatest actors of their generation figure out how to share a screen without blinking.
Actionable Takeaways for Film Enthusiasts
To truly appreciate the nuance of The Midwife 2017, consider these steps:
- Compare the Performances: Watch Catherine Frot in Marguerite (2015) right after this. The jump from a delusional opera singer to a pragmatic midwife shows why she is one of France’s most decorated actors.
- Research the "Sage-Femme" Tradition: In France, midwives have a much higher degree of autonomy and medical responsibility than in many parts of the US. Understanding this explains why Claire’s transition to a large hospital feels like such a demotion of her skills.
- Look for the Lighting Cues: Notice how the lighting shifts from the cold, blue-ish tones of the modern hospital to the warm, amber-heavy scenes in Claire’s garden and Béatrice’s apartment. It’s a classic visual storytelling technique that underscores the "life vs. machine" theme.
- Check Out Martin Provost’s Filmography: If the tactile nature of this movie moved you, Séraphine is his masterpiece regarding the intersection of labor and soul.
By focusing on the texture of the work and the reality of the characters' lives, The Midwife 2017 remains a benchmark for adult dramas that refuse to give easy answers. It’s a film that stays with you, much like the memory of a person who dared to tell you the truth when everyone else was being polite.