The Midwife's Tale (1995) [N/A]
Featuring:
Stacey Havener, Gayle Cohen, Carla Milford
Written by:
Megan Siler
Directed by:
Megan Siler
Release Date:
February 14, 1995
Original Title:
The Midwife's Tale
Ratings / Certifications:
N/A
Runtime: 75
A young girl, the daughter of a lesbian couple, lies peacefully abed listening to one of her mothers reading her a bedtime story. The off-beat tale she hears is set in medieval times and chronicles the exploits of poor Lady Eleanor, an independent, free-spirited young aristocrat who would much rather spend her time riding and being outdoors than staying cloistered inside tending to needlework. Still she is a dutiful daughter and reluctantly abides by her late father's wish that she marry Lord William. William knows that he is not her dream lover, but he is patient and eventually she gets pregnant. Eleanor is terrified, for her mother lost her life and the life of her baby giving birth. Not wanting to suffer the same fate, she sneakily tries to engage the local midwife to come and abort the fetus. Unfortunately, the midwife has been accused of sorcery by the local priests and has been sentenced to die. Fortunately, young Gwenyth, a new midwife shows up.
A mom who's had to work an extra shift gets home to find her daughter, a girl of about eight or nine, waiting for a story about a knightess. She tells a 14th- or 15th-century tale of Lady Eleanor. The church, with the tacit approval of Eleanor's husband, William, is cracking down on folk festivities and on the curative work of an aging midwife. Eleanor, with a new-found friend and servant woman, Gwenyth, who is the midwife's understudy, tries to save the woman from execution. Suspicion falls on the young women, and Gwenyth is in danger. Eleanor also finds herself pregnant, but fears childbirth and the life that awaits her baby. Does Eleanor have any choices?
