"How can I give this pain to someone else? Someone who's already suffered? And I know she would not want that. At all. That is now why my daughter came into this world for the time that she did."
Director: Kornél Mundruczó
Where Available: Netflix
Rating:
Pieces of a Woman was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021, and I was not disappointed. It took me a while to start this review because I had no idea what I would say. It almost feels impossible to comment on a movie like this because there is nothing I can say that captures the power of it. This is 2000% one of the most difficult movies I have ever had to watch, and I am sure that most people feel the same.
Pieces of a Woman tells the story of heartbreaking home birth that leaves a woman grappling with the profound emotional fallout, isolated from her partner and family by a chasm of grief.
This is Vanessa Kirby’s movie. I haven’t seen much of her other work, but I know she is currently working on the set of Mission Impossible 7&8 and played Princess Margaret in The Crown. Aside from her other work, this is one of the best female performances I have seen in a long time. It takes an entire half an hour for the title to appear onscreen. Definitely a long wait, but absolutely worth it. The majority of that 30 minutes is a scene of childbirth, filmed in one single take. The mother Martha Weiss (Vanessa Kirby) has decided to have her child in a hope that she shares with her partner Sean (Shia LaBeouf). The midwife she chose was unavailable, so stand in midwife Eva's (Molly Parker) crimes instead. She is kind and calm until the baby develops an irregular heartbeat. An ambulance is called. What happens after will stay a secret unless you give it a watch yourself, but wow was the first 30 minutes the most intense 30 minutes of my life. Kirby does an absolutely outstanding job, sending chills down my spine at every moan and scream.
Now, Shia LaBeouf. He plays Sean, the husband of our main character Martha. Director Kornél Mundruczó said in a Variety interview that “For me, it was very important to find a character who is very far from Martha, very different, who has connections to drug abuse and addiction. That was really somehow the most important focus for me, to find someone troublesome for that role, which really makes the love bigger in between them.” Sean in the movie has some abusive out-of-character moments. If you are not up-to-date with Shia LaBeouf's news, very recently, he was accused of abusive behavior by his ex-girlfriend FKA Twigs. He was scrubbed from Netflix’s “For Your Consideration” website, removing him from the Oscar campaign. (I am 100% sure he would have been nominated for Best Supporting Male Actor if the circumstances were different) When asked about the impact of these allegations and the trial on the release of the film, Mundruczó said that “I would like to keep the focus on the movie. I would like to keep the focus on the beautiful inner journey of a female character.” For a large chunk of viewers, it will be difficult to separate the art from the artist. “It is a piece of art. You have to separate it for sure. When you’re watching a movie like that, what has he represented there, it's also very important to see. It is a different approach for grief and handling problems, even if you agree or don't agree... art has to be truthful and it has to be real.”
Before allegations, LaBeouf received some of the best reviews in. his career from critics. But, the focus has always been on Kirby, who like I said, absolutely shines in her first starring role.
We do not know much about Sean’s family, but we do know everything about Martha’s. In any other movie, Elizabeth (her mother) would be old enough to be her grandmother. This would be a bad thing if she were not played by Ellen Burstyn, who will make me believe ANYTHING she says onscreen. One of the best scenes in Interstellar (my favorite movie of all time) is when Matthew talks to old Murph in the FAR FAR future, who is played by Ellen Burstyn. That performance is magical, and so is this one.
I really liked this movie. I can’t say that it hit me as hard as I expected because I do not have a personal connection with the subject matter, but I know that many female viewers will, Cudos to Netflix for picking this movie up at a film festival last year because it is for sure going to be in the running for some major awards in 2021.
Quotes:
"How can I give this pain to someone else? Someone who's already suffered? And I know she would not want that. At all. That is now why my daughter came into this world for the time that she did."
"I promised my daughter she would be the first one across this bridge.”
“There are certain things medically, we just don’t have answers for.”
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