Old fashioned birth scenes in film or tv?

August 3, 2017 3:54 PM

Looking for examples of birth scenes in film/TV that either take place in a rustic, lamplit setting (read: not a hospital) or in olden times. Examples along the lines of the "Children of Men" birth scene or the "Noah" birth scene. Midwives are a plus. Thanks!
posted by egeanin to Media & Arts (23 answers total)

The Tudors had a few of these. The White Queen too. They're on Youtube.
posted by fingersandtoes at 4:01 PM on August 3, 2017

Call the Midwife has a million of these - it is hard to think of a specific one, but you're guaranteed to get at least one per episode!
posted by benadryl at 4:03 PM on August 3, 2017 [12 favorites]

Also, nativity-themed movies. I can't name one but surely there are nativity films.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 4:05 PM on August 3, 2017

How much birth are you looking for?
posted by SLC Mom at 4:11 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: As much birth as I can get. What's important is that it is a rustic scene - so Call the Midwife doesn't really work as from what I can tell it is mostly in reasonably modern (for the time) homes or hospitals.
posted by egeanin at 4:14 PM on August 3, 2017

In Gone With the Wind Melanie Hamilton Wilkes gives birth, with Scarlett O'Hara as midwife, while Sherman is marching on Atlanta.
posted by NoraCharles at 4:22 PM on August 3, 2017 [2 favorites]

The Leftovers season two premiere opened with a lone cavewoman giving birth.
posted by kapers at 4:24 PM on August 3, 2017

The Little House on the Prairie tv show had more than one.
posted by Melismata at 4:34 PM on August 3, 2017

I suspect the TV show Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman had a few of those scenes.
posted by littlesq at 4:36 PM on August 3, 2017 [1 favorite]

The documentary on Ina May Gaskin Birth Story fits exactly. There are several other movies in that genre (Business of Being Born, Orgasmic Birth) but Birth Story is the best.
posted by mahorn at 4:52 PM on August 3, 2017

Are you interested in non-traditional rustic type births even though they may happen in space and/or the future? Farscape had a great one of these.
posted by jessamyn at 5:16 PM on August 3, 2017

Robin Hood with Kevin Costner has a rustic birth scene.
posted by Neekee at 5:42 PM on August 3, 2017

Egeanin, that is true about Call the Midwife. Though they do switch it up and have, say, an episode on an oil rig, and other wilder locations.

Apparently there is a show called Born in the Wild on Lifetime where women volunteer to do this?
posted by benadryl at 5:54 PM on August 3, 2017

The Pillars of the Earth miniseries had at least one (possibly two?) rustic birth scenes in the first episode. The series is set in England during the Middle Ages.
posted by Diagonalize at 6:00 PM on August 3, 2017

I remember a dramatic birth scene in Dances with Wolves.
posted by defreckled at 7:34 PM on August 3, 2017

Sens8 had the most epic 20 minute (?) montage of birth scenes of all filmic time. One is especially rustic.
posted by latkes at 7:36 PM on August 3, 2017

The PBS series Mercy Street has a birth in Season 2 Episode 6 that takes place in a Civil War-era slave cabin. That's pretty rustic.
posted by juliapangolin at 8:35 PM on August 3, 2017

One of my favorite episodes of "The Waltons" is when John Boy (Richard Thomas) delivers Sarah Jane Simmons' (Sissy Spacek) baby in a broke-down shack. The episode is "The Odyssey" from Season 2. It's even better if you can see Sissy Spacek's first appearance in "The Townie" from Season 1. Sarah Jane was like this party girl who wanted John Boy in the first season and comes back in the second season pregnant without a husband. John Boy at one point says something like, "Hey, we can do this! We're farm kids."

Melismata mentioned "Little House on the Prairie." The one birth scene that I remember is when Laura gave birth and she insisted on not screaming because she wanted the first thing her baby heard to be her own laughter. I saw that as a kid and it and scared the hell out of me.
posted by 1smartcookie at 11:46 PM on August 3, 2017

Apocalypto has a woman giving birth alone in a rapidly flooding cave.
posted by Drosera at 5:35 AM on August 4, 2017

There's Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman giving birth in the woods and I know there were other birth scenes in that show in a rustic setting.
posted by skynxnex at 6:29 AM on August 4, 2017

Outlander (season 1 episode 13) has a 17th c woman giving (breech) birth in a castle attended by a 20th c nurse. The next day, she's galloping around the countryside so I can't vouch for the realism.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:46 AM on August 4, 2017

Response by poster: These are all great - thank you!
posted by egeanin at 10:22 AM on August 4, 2017

Blue Lagoon had a birth scene.
posted by bq at 4:39 PM on August 4, 2017 [1 favorite]