The Midwife
Music Box Films | Release Date: July 21, 2017 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
66
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 26, 2017
If you want to fall in love with Catherine Deneuve, don’t start with her youth. Start with her here, in her 70s, and then work your way back. Read full review
91
The PlaylistKimber MyersJul 20, 2017
The Midwife is often unexpectedly funny and sweet. The film is more a celebration of life and its pleasures, big and small, rather than dwelling on death Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzAug 3, 2017
The Midwife is one of those movies that could be about anything and you’d watch, so enjoyable are its lead actors. Read full review
80
Screen DailyLisa NesselsonJul 20, 2017
Frot and Deneuve work subtle wonders with their purpose-written roles. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeJul 3, 2017
Not much happens in The Midwife, but its depth and texture make this a moving film about families, time passing and shared history – and the handful of scenes in the maternity unit where Claire works, five or six little miracles of birth, somehow add to its sense of a life as mysterious and precious. Read full review
75
Boston GlobePeter KeoughAug 24, 2017
The main reason it does not seem contrived is the performances of Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot. Because of their authenticity, and Provost’s mostly sure hand at maintaining mood and tone, the film is a moving immersion into the mysteries of time, memory, and mortality. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 27, 2017
Provost’s film is, in the end, a story about attaining the wisdom that comes from forgiveness and the acceptance of those things — namely the past and the future — that none of us can control. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comVikram MurthiJul 21, 2017
The Midwife eventually devolves into a blandly sentimental register in its second half, which prominently features two mediocre subplots: the cute, but dull romance featuring Olivier Gourmet (“The Son”) and a half-hearted critique of techno-capitalism in the medical field. Read full review
75
ObserverThelma AdamsJul 20, 2017
At its core, the drama is a character study. It gradually reveals the impact these two contrasting characters have on each other, excavating the past to unlock the repressed Claire and reveal hidden depths below the flamboyant Beatrice’s surface. Read full review
75
IndieWireBen CrollMay 11, 2017
Offering plum roles to Catherines Frot and Catherine Deneuve, The Midwife is a minor-key crowd pleaser about friendship, forgiveness and rolling with the punches. Read full review
70
Village VoiceKristen Yoonsoo KimJul 20, 2017
Not a whole lot happens in The Midwife, but there’s never a dull moment, thanks to the opposing yet equally stellar performances by the two Catherines in the lead. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangJul 20, 2017
Provost’s movie jolts to life whenever its two great Catherines are sharing the screen, whether driving each other crazy or collapsing in tears. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternJul 20, 2017
If the plot turns out to be a convenience, the pleasure lies in what the co-stars bring to it. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJordan MintzerMay 11, 2017
It’s definitely treacly in places and not exactly reinventing the wheel, but the two fine performances at its heart are more than worth it. Read full review
67
The Film StageJose SolísJul 14, 2017
Béatrice is perhaps the polar opposite of what we think about when we think Deneuve, and yet, as with all the other eccentrics she’s played, the actress grounds her through an otherworldly grace and humanity. Read full review
60
Total FilmJames MottramAug 11, 2017
With recriminations turning to compassion, the film sings when these French titans share the screen, Deneuve’s loose cannon a mixture of hedonism and terror. If only the other scenes were as compelling. Read full review
60
The GuardianPeter BradshawJul 20, 2017
It is a very good idea for a two-hander, and Frot and Deneuve give it their considerable all. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyJul 20, 2017
It’s Deneuve who musses up the formula and makes the film worth seeing, by generously bringing out her inner vulgarian. Read full review
60
VarietyOwen GleibermanJul 20, 2017
What do you call a movie about a midlife non-crisis? How about tame, competent, mildly touching, and a little dull — except for Catherine Deneuve's fearless turn as a boozing, ailing wreck. Read full review
60
The New York TimesGlenn KennyJul 20, 2017
Because it is a French film, or rather the kind of French film that wants to serve its sentimentality with a dollop of prestige, The Midwife doesn’t offer an entirely shameless version of the “dying free spirit imbues uptight caretaker with a new lust for life” scenario. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 13, 2017
There’s not a whole lot new here in this story of rival lifestyles and familial skeletons, but just allowing yourself to immerse yourself in the initially catty melodrama is pleasure enough. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 20, 2017
The Midwife has two things going for it: Catherine Frot and Catherine Deneuve. There’s no disputing the quality of acting in this film, at least insofar as the leads are concerned. Unfortunately, almost everything else in Martin Provost’s staid character study falls considerably short of the bar set by the two Catherines. Read full review
40
TheWrapDan CallahanJul 19, 2017
The bothersome and irritating thing about the way The Midwife is written is that we keep hearing detail after detail and story after story about the shared history between Claire and Béatrice, but we never get a solid idea of what that history was. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneJul 20, 2017
If not for its performances, the film would belong in the category of Hallmark Channel tearjerkers. Read full review
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