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Pieces of a Woman Movie Review

Pieces of a Woman is a 2020 drama film directed by Kornel Mundruczo and starring Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf. It’s a difficult, but strong drama.

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“And I’m ashamed of me.

That I wasn’t a good enough mother

to teach you how to stand up

and speak for yourself, for God’s sakes“

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A heartbreaking home birth leaves a woman grappling with the profound emotional fallout, isolated from her partner and family by enormous grief. Let’s first talk about the elephant in the room, which is that horrible to watch birth sequence. It’s not even a sequence, it’s literally a quarter of a film. So yes, I obviously had some problems with this.

I personally despise such scenes. I find it gross, uncomfortable and painful to watch. The decision to start the movie with such a meticulously detailed giving birth sequence was questionable to me. On the positive side of things, it lent more emotional levity to the rest of the proceedings plotwise, it was obviously very realistic and intense, and the sequence ending with the title of the movie thirty minutes after the film started was undoubtedly very authentic.

The rest of the film is this very emotional, devastating drama about the pain of losing a child right after the baby was born. It’s a real pain that many women face, but it is obviously hard to describe to those who haven’t experienced it. The filmmakers have experienced this themselves, so the film is authentic in that regard, but it could have been ultimately a bit more sophisticated in handling its issues.

Vanessa Kirby is going to be a star after this amazing turn. While I would argue that Martha herself wasn’t fully developed unfortunately, Kirby’s performance is so fantastic that she elevated the role and made it her own. She’s particularly memorable in her emotional outbursts and the level of commitment that she clearly showcased in that harrowing opening.

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Others are also terrific. This is clearly one of those films that showcase great acting above all else. The characters needed more work, but all the actors elevated their material with ease. Shia LaBeouf was typecast, but he was very good nonetheless. Ellen Burstyn is also terrific, especially in that one big scene that she has with the daughter. And of course Molly Parker is great too.

Pieces of a Woman benefits from excellent courtroom scenes near the end. Those portrayed the complexities of this situation so well while emphasizing just how difficult it is dealing with this stuff in legal terms. The movie’s at its best when exploring these issues and when dealing with Martha’s emotional turmoil following her tragedy.

The visual touches here and there are fantastic as they emphasize her pain – I am talking about the scene where he watches other children on the bus. There was this moment where the kids put their hands on the bus window and seeing those little handprints was very touching. These introspective moments were fantastic, but rare as the movie turned overly dramatic and conversational in some later scenes.

Pieces of a Woman is thus a very odd movie structurally speaking, but original nonetheless as there aren’t that many films quite like it structurally and in subject matter as well. The direction is fine, but this director has made ‘White God’ before, which was much more impactful to me personally.

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