Sages-femmes
Authentic French drama about two recently graduated midwives who start to work in a maternity unit in Toulouse struggling with staff shortages and limited budgets.
Even before we meet Sofia and Louise on the maternity ward, there are sirens. The atmosphere is loud and hectic, everyone is stretched to the limit and the waters are not the only thing that are about to break. These two friends and flatmates are starting their first day as midwives together. There is barely any time for an introduction. Thrown into the department’s daily routine of crowded corridors, delivery rooms and monitors, Sofia and Louise have very different first days. The pressurized situation of caregiving whilst under constant stress soon begins to put a strain on their friendship.
Léa Fehner’s SAGES-FEMMES is a sensitive and searing exposé of the aberrations of a totally underfinanced health system, and the many facets of a key profession that is too often undervalued. Capturing moments large and small with a camera that, like the midwives, rarely pauses, the director brings us closer to the daily life of the entire staff at the hospital. Her approach is subtle, quotidian and unadorned, and reveals both the personal and political ramifications of a broken system. (source: www.berlinale.de)