Midwife on France 2: An incredible technical achievement for a film

The feature film Sage Femme, broadcast this Sunday evening on France 2, tells the story of Claire, a woman who dedicated her life to others and welcomed life. Already preoccupied with the impending closure of the maternity ward, she finds her life turned upside down by the return of Beatrice, her late father’s former mistress, a capricious and selfish woman.

For this film, born from the desire of the director Martin Provost, RIn a unique tribute to a midwife who saved a life at birth, a real technical feat has been achieved. These are indeed real births that we see on screen, exactly six live births starring Catherine Frot. actually participated.

“Too often in the movies babies are born huge and too healthy, it sounds so fake! I wanted to capture life in real life, the essence of life, what we all go through, not a more or less watered down version of it.”– says Martin Provost. “For this, we had to shoot these scenes in Belgium, because French law does not allow filming with children under three months of age.

“It was a long and difficult job: we had to find women who had just become pregnant and who agreed to film the birth six months later, to find maternity wards that would allow us to do that.”continues the director. “Catherine Froth went through training. She attended births before filming, participated in them.”

Catherine Froth, exactly, returns to this unusual experience for an actress. “The idea of ​​this work, as moving as it was, was not insignificant. I finally agreed, knowing that it was an integral part of the project that Martin proposed to me.”he says. “So I took it step by step. First I asked to attend the birth to see if I could do the appropriate gestures. I realized that it was all very natural in the end, very normal. Then I took lessons with an ex-midwife. I practice on mannequins.”

Catherine Froth recalls “Sage Femme” on the AlloCiné microphone: