REVIEW: The two Catherines — Frot and Deneuve — are a formidable double act in The Midwife

REVIEW: It’s an acting masterclass as Catherine Deneuve and Catherine Frot complement each other perfectly in the classy French drama The Midwife.

THERE are seven basic plots, according to the author Christopher Booker, among others.

The Midwife — about a buttoned-up single mum whose life is disrupted by the arrival of her father’s hedonistic lover — clearly fits the bill.

But director Martin Provost delivers this rebirth story as expertly as his title character catches babies.

He couldn’t have done it without French cinema’s favourite Catherines — Deneuve and Frot — in their first on-screen collaboration.

Capable, self-sufficient and extremely professional, Claire Breton (Frot) is deeply disturbed by a call from her late father’s mistress.

She hasn’t heard from Beatrice (Deneuve) in more than three decades and the younger woman still holds a grudge over what she sees as a betrayal of both herself and her father all those years ago.

Catherine Frot plays the capable and sensible Claire in The Midwife.

Curiosity, however, eventually wins out over her better judgment.

Irresponsible, self-absorbed, pleasure-focused, Beatrice is Claire’s polar opposite.

But when she asks for help, as well as forgiveness — after revealing she has a brain tumour — Claire finds it hard to say no.

So far, so melodramatic.

But Frot nails Claire’s emotional ambivalence and internal moral struggle.

And Deneuve underplays the potentially larger-than-life Beatrice, a woman who lives out of a suitcase and earns her money by gambling, with similar assurance.

The real pleasure to be had from The Midwife lies in the interaction between these two women along with myriad almost incidental details — Claire’s brisk ascent of the stairs to her apartment when the elevator is broken, for example, or the shots of the children of new immigrants playing on the concrete below.

Claire’s son (Quentin Dolmaire) drops in and out of the picture, as a real child might.

Her romantic interaction with the truck driver (Olivier Gourmet) who tends to the garden allotment next to her own also feels relaxed.

Provost, an actor turned director, weaves a rich and nuanced story about the gaining of wisdom around a familiar template.

In French, a midwife is called a sage femme, or wise woman — something of that ancient female intelligence informs the film.

The Midwife opens on October 26. Advance previews this weekend (October 20, 21, 22).

THE MIDWIFE (PG)

****

Director: Martin Provost

Starring: Catherine Deneuve, Catherine Frot

Verdict: Superb double act

Originally published as REVIEW: The two Catherines — Frot and Deneuve — are a formidable double act in The Midwife