Review of Pieces of a Woman (2020) by Megomike — 05 Feb 2021

Pieces of a Woman is a too-close journey of a woman reclaiming her soul after the greatest loss any parent can experience. In what appears to be a relatively normal home birth, Martha delivers what appears to be a healthy baby girl.

But minor heart murmurs identified by the midwife are shrouding a deeper problem that quickly robs Martha and Sean of their first child. What follows are glimpses over the next few months of Martha’s life, and the confusion of the many emotions, grief, pain, anger, guilt, and navigating these emotions to bring herself back to life despite the conflicting needs of her family and partner.

Pieces of a Woman was written by Kata Weber (Jupiter’s Moon), and directed by Kornel Mundruczo (Jupiter’s Moon). It stars Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) as Martha, the young mother faced with an insurmountable loss.

Shia LaBeouf (Transformers) turns in what would have been an award-winning performance as Sean if not for his off-screen problems with alcohol and domestic violence. We are treated to a rare non-comedic performance by Iliza Shlesinger as Martha’s sister, Anita, and the inimitable Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore) as their overbearing rich matriarch, Elizabeth.

Molly Parker also delivers a quietly deep performance as the midwife, witness of both the beauty of birth, and unexpected death. The birth scene is not shortened for comfort. The filmmakers are very smart to precede the loss of Martha and Sean’s baby with an extended view of the pain and discomfort experienced by a woman to just bring a life into the world.

The care in developing the love between Martha and Sean, and their love for the baby, followed by a long difficult labor and seemingly successful birth, punctuates the vastness of the loss once it occurs.

What follows is a profoundly authentic stream of life for all characters at odds with each other, that feels very familiar within all families and relationships following a crisis. But, it is Martha’s emotional survival at the center of this tale, and slowly she makes the personal decisions necessary to begin her return to humanity.

This is a difficult journey for anyone that is or has been a parent, and anyone who has loved anyone struck by deep personal loss. All of the characters are sympathetic, if viewed in a bubble. But as players in Martha’s Journey, their own pain does nothing more than to complicate her healing.

They deal with life as they always have, but it’s not good enough to help Martha, and while the slow destruction of a once enviable relationship between Martha and Sean is heartbreaking, and their behavior toward each other hard to see, it doesn’t matter.

This movie is about Martha’s resurrection, and neither of them are able to provide each other the support they need under so much duress. But as is often true, growth occurs as a result of careful choice of behaviors, and people, to either jettison or bring closer.

I give Pieces of a Woman a solid 4/5 Stars, and recommend it very highly with the admonishment that couples in a new relationship may struggle with many of the themes. This film has received some recognition from the Golden Globes, and should predictably receive the same from the Academy.

The movie is a longshot, but a solid choice as a Best Picture nominee, along with its writer and director. LaBeouf’s performance is Oscar-worthy, but he has been dropped from awards consideration.

A potential dark horse would be a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Ellen Burstyn, for a recognizable performance as an older mother with too many opinions that will stir emotions you forgot you had.

Plus, there is never a bad reason to give Ellen Burstyn an Oscar nomination. Vanessa Kirby’s Martha is the most obvious for a Best Actress nod. Her emotionally measured and believable performance of a woman’s path to healing is the most authentic performance I’ve seen by an actress this year.