Few things are as heartbreaking as the loss of a child, and Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo’s new film Pieces of a Woman aims to show audiences exactly how devastating that experience can be. Led by an award-worthy performance from Vanessa Kirby, this is a harrowing, brutally honest look at the grief and sadness left behind by such a traumatic event. An unforgettable opening scene that will have you glued to your seat soon gives way to a slow burn examination of a husband and wife’s very different responses to the inciting event and while this component may not be to everyone’s taste, it never fails to keep you locked in on this very real, lived-in couple.
We meet Martha (Kirby) and Sean (Shia LaBeouf) on the eve of their daughter’s birth. Some initial prickliness between Sean and his mother-in-law Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn) is the only narrative thread we are given before Mundruczo thrusts us into one of the most enrapturing one-shot takes since 1917. Over 24 minutes we follow the ins and outs of Martha’s difficult birth, from the initial pangs of pain to the arrival of substitute midwife Eva (Molly Parker) and the extreme highs and lows of holding her child for the first time before tragedy strikes. This scene alone puts Kirby into awards contention, moving between calm awareness to incapacitated from pain into delirium before sharing those intensely emotional few moments with her child. The physicality of the performance is phenomenal as Kirby contorts her body in pain and moves about the room in a haze from it, begging her husband for the pain to be over and doubting herself in the process. Once her daughter is in her arms you immediately feel that connection between the pair that will inform the rest of the film, a momentary respite before the unthinkable happens. Mundruczo wisely cuts the scene to avoid showing anything too morbid but the glimpse of Martha’s reaction is enough to tell you all you need to know.
From here, Pieces of a Woman becomes a more traditional drama as Sean and Martha come to terms with their ordeal in the ensuing months in different ways. Sean, helpless to assist Martha in any meaningful way, finds himself inadvertently at odds with her when he agrees to help Martha’s mother in taking legal action against Eva. Despite the contentious relationship with his mother-in-law, Sean sees no other alternative to end to the pain he and Martha feel, grasping onto it as his only means of achieving closure. Given LaBeouf’s recent legal struggles it may be hard to connect with his character, especially given a few scenes that unfortunately seem to mirror some of the real-life accusations against him. Separating the artist from the performance however, this is easily his best work, raw and emotional as he wrestles with the powerlessness he feels over his own life and relationship, resulting in a relapse into alcoholism that further fractures his marriage. LaBeouf leaves it all out on the screen, as Sean digs himself deeper and deeper into depression, ultimately detaching from his life completely, unable to cope with not being able to help his wife get through this intensely personal struggle.
Martha’s attempts to get back to some sense of normalcy in her life are challenged constantly, as the film challenges the notions and conventions of how a woman should feel and react to losing a child. What seems to the outside, especially her mother, as detaching from life, to Martha, is an attempt to move forward. There is no bringing back her daughter but she also sees no value in attempting to demonise and criminalise the woman who helped her bring her into the world. Veteran actress Ellen Burstyn brings so much to this second half of the film, ageing years in the space of one as her relationship with Martha crumbles. Ellen vehemently believes that Eva should be held responsible for the loss of Martha’s child but, in taking this course of action, risks losing her own completely as Martha distances herself amidst the constant berating. The broken, drained shell of a woman we see at the end of the film feels like a completely different character, a testament to the toll that the entire ordeal has had on characters outside of Martha and Sean’s marriage.
Pieces of a Woman is about as close to this subject matter as anyone would ever want to get. A true-to-life portrayal of one woman’s traumatic experience and the ripple effect it has on those closest to her, the film is a battering ram of emotional devastation, starting with an unforgettable home-birth sequence. Vanessa Kirby shines as the broken Martha, emotionally battered and barely holding her head above water, in a role that very well may win the young actress her first Oscar. The second half does lose steam after that powerful opening but the emotional exploration of grief is rich and multi-layered, worth sticking with until the cathartic end.
Pieces of a Woman stars Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Snook, Molly Parker, Benny Safdie, Iliza Shlesinger & Elizabeth Burstyn – Streaming on Netflix now.