Pieces of a Woman

Pieces of a Woman
Starring Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Parker
Directed by Kornel Mundruczo

Grief is something that's not easily confined into a simple category. There's no real process in dealing with grief, as everyone deals with it differently. Some completely shut down, others bury themselves in work, while others still surround themselves with friends to try to take their mind off their grief - and everything else in between. Sometimes dealing with grief is self-destructive, such as delving into drugs, alcohol, cheating, and self-harm, among other things. "Pieces of a Woman" is a deeply reflective, personal tale of one woman's journey through one of the most unimaginable traumatic events a woman can ever go through - a film based off the life of the screenwriter and her husband, who directed the film.

Martha Weiss (Vanessa Kirby) and her boyfriend Sean Carson (Shia LaBeouf) are expecting their first child, and Martha opts for giving birth in her home instead of a hospital with a midwife. When the time comes, they learn their midwife is out of town, but she suggests Eva Woodward (Molly Parker) instead, and despite never meeting the couple, Martha trusts Eva's abilities to give birth. At first things are going well, but then tragedy strikes and their lives are never the same.

As the months pass, Martha deals with her grief in silent moments as she traverses the town of Boston by herself, doing seemingly ordinary things such as grocery shopping, as all the while she contains her grief and despair within, all the while dealing with her overbearing mother Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn), who wants Martha to testify at Eva's trial about how she killed her baby. Sean reacts by becoming more angry, turning to drugs, and other negative coping mechanisms. Grief can only stay hidden so long, and Martha is a powder keg waiting to explode, unless she can find the help she really needs.

You can tell that "Pieces of a Woman" is a deeply personal film, and with very good reason. It was written by Kata Weber, who experienced this type of grief with her partner, Kornel Mundruczo, who directed the project. Putting your heart into a project like this is no easy task, and there's several moments where the film really packs a powerful punch, but at times it also becomes too melodramatic, and in a sense there's not a lot of story being told mixed with too many stories being tossed around, resulting in a lesser gut punch than what could've been delivered. Still, despite all the window dressing that the film tries to include, it's ultimately Vanessa Kirby's show, and she more than capably conveys the story through her blank expressions that ultimately give way to fiery outbursts of anger, rage, guilt, and deep profound sadness.

Vanessa Kirby is most well-known for moviegoing audiences in action films such as "Mission: Impossible - Fallout" and "The Fast & the Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw," but she's also done masterful work on the television series "The Crown" - but this is easily her crowning achievement to date, with her first Golden Globe nomination and more than likely an Oscar nod in her future. She plays Martha with an inner strength and resolve, but also a bubbling sadness and melancholy that shows simply in her expressions. There's stretches of the film where she doesn't talk, but her mannerisms speak monologues. Not only is she dealing with the death of her infant child, but also with an overbearing mother, a boyfriend who's growing more distant, and, most importantly, guilt that she feels responsible for what happened. There's a few moments in the film where she explodes, and those are the most profound moments in the movie - apart from the opening thirty-minute birthing scene, which runs the gambit of joy and happiness to sorrow and despair, all told through a claustrophobic lens in a one-take editing style that doesn't stop.

Shia LaBeouf has had a tumultuous public persona which doesn't seem to be letting up, especially given recent charges by an ex-girlfriend, which overshadows his performance here - along with not having been given a decent enough story of his own. He deals with his grief with drugs, affairs, and outbursts of anger, but its pretty much a laundry list of cliches that writers feel men go through in their own grief journey. 

The other outstanding performer besides Kirby in this film is Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn, who plays Martha's mother Elizabeth, but even her story is a bit off-kilter, as there's moments where she seemingly shows signs of Alzheimer's and dementia, but those moments are never fully realized. Despite those baffling moments, she electrifies the screen as a woman who's more than just the overbearing mother trope, but also serves as a catalyst for Martha's own grief process - culminating in an unforgettable dining room scene between the two women that will leave you spellbound.

The film does run for a bit too long, and tries to tell different stories instead of just Martha's grieving process that never come to fruition. On top of Sean's journey through drug use and Elizabeth's possible dementia, there's the overlying court case with Eva (which in itself is never really actualized until the final act, and seems thrown in for no real good reason). The concept of midwives was something more popular back in the day, but have come under fire recently due to having women giving birth in their homes instead of a hospital with a full staff of doctors and nurses who could assist if anything goes wrong at a moments' notice, instead of waiting for an ambulance to arrive. If the film was just about Martha's loss and grieving process, it would've been a phenomenal character study - but throwing in all these other side stories takes away from that emotional impact. Still, Vanessa Kirby meanders her way through the film and stands out, shifting through the melodrama around her and portraying a very real - and very powerful - story of a woman going through the grief that only an expected mother could really know.

While the film shifts focus to other less important stories, "Pieces of a Woman" is held firm with the talent of Vanessa Kirby, who portrays a woman dealing with powerful grief and loss in a deeply humanistic, realistic way that leave you remembering it long after the film ends.

The Score: A