User Reviews

"Die Hebamme" or "The Midwife" is a German film from 2014 and it runs for 110 minutes approximately, so fairly long, especially for a television production. My title refers to the fact that this is a historic movie made by television station Sat 1 about the lives of midwives several centuries ago. Everybody who expected quality here, must be a gigantic optimist. You can certainly say that this is on par with the Sat 1 "Wanderhure" films when it comes to the level of quality. And it's about the same running time as well. Lead actress is Josefine Preuß, who is certainly nowhere near the most talented actors from her age group, but admittedly her supporting cast isn't any better and it makes a mediocre actor like Axel Milberg look good even. There were several really cringeworthy moments of overacting in here. But none of it is as bad as the script really. This work by Thorsten Wettcke based on Kerstin Cantz' novel allows the actors to go full ham again and again. Apart from that it is embarrassing to watch how this film takes itself so seriously in terms of drama, but ends up delivering nothing memorable except cheap thrills with zero substance. There are many scenes in here intended to shock, involving death, violence, sex etc. but all of it feels just intended for the sake of it, nothing really helps in telling a convincing story. And the antagonist is as ridiculous as the final plot twist about him at the very end. Cringeworthy stuff really. I recommend you to stay far far away. I actually thought this could be better as Finnish director Hannu Salonen has worked on some solid stuff in the past, but he can't save this script. I also lose respect for him because he even made a second film about the midwife in here (starring Preuß again) and if there is anything that could make this film here even worse, then it is the idea to make a sequel. Stay far far away.