Movie Review - Pieces of a Woman

Director: Kornél Mundruczó
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 126 minutes
Year: 2021
Starring: Vanessa Kirby, Shia LeBeouf, Ellen Burstyn, Iliza Shlesinger, Bennie Safdie, Sarah Snook, Molly Parker

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2021 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 15: A NETFLIX ORIGINAL MOVIE

Description: When Martha (Vanessa Kirby) delivers her baby during a home bith, it ends up in an unfathomable tragedy. She beings a year-long odyssey of mourning that fractures relationships with loved ones.

Review: The spark can suddenly be gone because of something that doesn’t even last a beat. The realization that something traumatic has become a reality. One moment Martha and Sean share their full lives, their hopes and plans for a bright future. The next, they don’t know each other anymore. “Pieces of a Woman” begins impressively, with a tragic event depicted in half an hour with an unprecedented piece of intimate cinema. The rest of the film consists of snippets of time, in which we see the trail of destruction that has swept through two lives.
Of course, Marth and Sean’s happiness is imperfect from the start, but there is a lot of love between the two characters. You believe Vanessa Kirby when she acts like she’s laughing at Shia LaBeouf’s character’s agonizingly lame puns, and how sweet he can be to her when she needs the greatest support. But we also sympathize once their happiness is torn to pieces and they muddle along for a long time before they actually articulate that something is gone.
You have to be able to feel the pain of these two characters. Sean’s behavior derails in multiple ways and even becomes agonizing to watch as the story drags on, which is very important. With an actor other than LaBeouf, it might have been harder to accept that this man had such extremes in him. Kirby plays her pain so overwhelmingly that it makes her immobile. We almost never see a character like that in a movie. To make that compelling and dramatic, you really have to gave what it takes. And Vanessa Kirby is definitely the star of the film.  
The stylistic Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczó goes for raw realism. He pulls it off. It’s not necessarily a film that is broadly appealing, because this is not the story for a broad audience. The average viewer will probably not chose it while scrolling through all the Netflix films. However, it is a movie that I believe is one of the best of the year so far. Because “Pieces of a Woman” offers things you won’t see anywhere else.

Rating: 4,5 / 5