Pieces of a Woman (2020) User Reviews

A woman's torn

[Stanlee107 · 6/10 · 23 January 2021]

This is a powerful, emotional film that captured the joys of home birth & the despairs of tragedy thereafter. The first scene is the most potent scene in the film but given what an emotional rollercoaster that was I had high expectations.

However, to achieve such feats it requires a great script. It becomes a bit of a melodrama & its brilliance faded towards the end. Nevertheless is it worth a watch if you like an emotional film with character driven storyline.

A beautiful and heartbreaking film.

[becky-92346 · 8/10 · 4 September 2022]

Pieces of a Woman (2020) follows a woman who struggles to deal with the aftermath of a traumatic home birth. This film was a really beautiful film with a lot of heart and emotional. Such a brutally realistic portrayal of grief and I'm very happy i watched it.

I loved the cinematography for this film! The colour palettes were subtle yet very visually pleasing and all the shots were framed really well. The camera panning was good and I liked how it tracked the characters, especially in this birth scene. The extreme close-ups used helped to convey the characters' emotions to the max and were very effective!

The score was super melancholic throughout the whole film and immediately set the tone well. It was somewhat basic at points but I still found that it added a lot to the film and didn't really need to be 'unique' per say.

All the performances were strong, with some well written and intense dialogue. The characters felt so real. Vanessa Kirby was phenomenal as the lead and her acting during the birth scene was unreal! I thought Ellen Burstyn was great in her role too, as she always is! My only criticism is that I'd have liked to have seen more of Benny Safdie's character! Also, I wanted to mention that the casting of the sister was accurate and a great choice!

The film had strong themes of grief, and I found it to be brutally realistic in addressing such themes. I'm sure this is a movie many people, unfortunately, can relate to. Also, I loved the apple metaphor and it was beautifully addressed during the court scene, which was probably my favourite scene of the movie!

Lastly, the pacing was slow and steady, but managed to keep me engaged and interest through the whole duration! I was completely drawn in to these people's lives, and it left me wanting more!

Pieces of a Woman review

[bradh6886 · 6/10 · 7 January 2021]

Opens on one of the most powerful long takes in recent memory, but not even the masterful performances by Kirby and Burstyn could save the dry 2nd and 3rd acts. Resolution felt incomplete. Kirby elevates an otherwise tough sit.

This was a struggle

[repojack · 6/10 · 20 January 2021]

I almost never watch movies like these -- mega-drama releases during Oscar season. But in my first year reviewing on Letterboxd, movies like this appear so consistently in the "Popular with Friends" feed I find myself drawn to them.

And after forcing my self to watch PIeces of a Woman knowing I'd struggle, I think I'm going with my gut next time around.

I don't really have much to add to what's been said before. The birth scene is heart wrenching. The acting is phenomenal. Shia Lebouf's performance was so excellent I kept wanting to slap myself in the face reminding myself that he's a complete asshole.

But the bulk of the movie after the first act is just painful to sit through. Not because of the depressing subject matter. Nothing really gels.

Overall it felt like a jigsaw puzzle that was half completed.

Some Nice Later Moments

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 19 February 2021]

There are some nice moments late into the running time of "Pieces of a Woman," but you may not think the payoff of those scenes is worth what you had to sit through to get to them.

As anyone who knows about this movie already also knows, the opening is a lengthy and grueling one-shot scene of a homebirth gone wrong. Actually, that's not how the movie opens. There are a few brief scenes establishing the principal characters, namely Martha (Vanessa Kirby), her husband Sean (Shia LaBeouf), and Martha's domineering mom Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn). These scenes quickly convey the dysfunctional family dynamic between this trio, and mostly warns the audience that all of these people are going to be pretty miserable to be around. The film then delivers on that promise. After the birthing scene, which wasn't as unbearable as I thought it would be aside from the vomit anxiety induced by watching Vanessa Kirby burp and almost throw up for 20 minutes, this movie becomes nothing but a mashup of marital misery, and reinforces my belief that you can have empathy for damaged people and understand how they became the way they are, but still not want to be around them.

Martha finds some solace and healing very late in the movie, providing Kirby with a chance to convey an emotion beyond hollowed-out bitterness. Burstyn is masterful and has a monologue that has Oscar clip written all over it. LaBeouf is hopeless, as he always is. He's a truly disgusting actor and he only plays disgusting characters and it's a relief when he abandons his wife and leaves the film. I only wish he'd done it sooner.

Kirby is being lauded for her performance, but she's limited by the material. We don't know anything about Martha before her trauma and anything we learn about her after is filtered through that lens. She's a character defined by her tragedy, and the movie makes it hard to care about her beyond the abstract care one would feel for any random person in similar circumstances.

Grade: B

Quite unbelievable as portrayed

[sherripadgitt · 6/10 · 8 January 2021]

Pet peeves first: Coming from a nurse, I saw so many things wrong with the opening scenes in this that I just wanted to stop watching, but I continued to see where the story would go. The story lags in the middle, but picks up towards the end. The details lack substance and don't seem to be based in reality.

First off, the midwife did not take any vital signs of the mother. That would have been the first thing she would have done upon arriving. She would have also kept monitoring those signs just as she did the baby's as the mom progressed. If the midwife did not do those things, then yet, that would be gross and extreme negligence on her part regardless of what she wanted the outcome to be.

Secondly the portrayal of showing the laboring woman in a "semi-lethargic" and delirious state was very misleading. Labor pain doesn't make one lose consciousness; it does the opposite.

Lastly, in the courtroom scene, lawyer and her client are not together in what the lawyer is going to ask her. Most always client and lawyer are together on what questions will be asked before so client is prepared.

To sum it up, I feel that this was poorly written and some simple research could have gone a long way with this film to tighten up the loose areas to make it a wonderful film. Also, cut out some of the fluff in the middle where nothing is happening. The acting was amazing by all. I loved Vanessa Kirby and Shia LeBouf. The camera work was surreal during the first part of the film. It made you feel like you were there with the couple as they are experiencing this.

Extremely well done.

[tejmummy · 10/10 · 9 January 2021]

I lost my child in 2007 just before she was born and I watched this wondering would it be portrayed sympathetically. It was. The birth scene is part of the story but it is the fall out from the loss. The grief is soul destroying and it changes lives. Me and my partner are not the same people we were before our daughter was born. Both leads play this beautifully, the self destruction is honest. I know people struggle with the ending but sometimes life evolves and becomes 'normal' again. We've had 2 Rainbow babies since our loss. The apple theme is true and accurately portrayed.

Powerful stuff

[greenheart · 7/10 · 18 November 2022]

Almost too traumatic to watch at times, particularly the birth scene at the beginning with the impending tragedy.

After this, you find yourself watching a kind of ticking time bomb. I wasn't sure what was going to happen, was it going to end in violence, more tragedy, the tension almost seeped through the screen.

I was not aware of. Vanessa Kirby before this movie, what an outstanding performance she delivered, she left absolutely nothing in the rehearsal room and gave a performance, as powerful as I can remember. She was very well supported by the cast around her.

Grief must never be swept under the carpet, this movie, as hard as it is to watch at times, delivers a very important message.

Almost Too Brutal at Times, but Very Powerful

[kjproulx · 9/10 · 17 September 2020]

This is a film that will be on my mind for a while. It's hard to enjoy a movie that's incredibly depressing, but Pieces of a Woman is one that I got behind. All I feel like doing is raving about how good this movie truly is, but I need to stress that I probably won't recommend it to most average viewers. Having just premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, Pieces of a Woman took me on a journey that I wasn't prepared for in the slightest. Here are my overall thoughts on this very challenging film.

The premise of this film alone kind of ruins the experience to dive into it in detail, so I'll simply say that this film is about Martha (Vanessa Kirby), a woman who has to cope with a devastating loss. This loss drives a huge steak in the love between her and Sean (Shia LaBeouf), so much so that their relationship may not work out. Pieces of a Woman begins with an absolutely gut-wrenching 30 minutes that sets the rest of the film in motion. The opening of the film made me smile and it felt sweet, but the quick descent into heartbreak just left my jaw on the floor. In retrospect, this movie isn't for anyone who is looking to genuinely enjoy a film, but rather an experience that utilizes filmmaking and performances in the best ways possible.

I've been a Shia LaBeouf fan for as long as I can remember, so his fantastic and raw performance here didn't surprise me in the least. He's been great in everything he's done over the last few years and I can't wait to see more indie turns from him. Now, Vanessa Kirby on the other hand... I've seen her in big films like Mission: Impossible - Fallout and Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw, but I've never seen her sink her teeth into a role like this. Maybe there's a smaller film that I need to seek out that she's done in the past, but this may be the best performance she'll ever give. From her first moments on-screen to where she ends up by the end, her range here was outstanding. I felt the emotion that she was conveying and I broke down in a certain courtroom scene.

Now, where I feel the one imperfect aspect of this film lies, is in the fact that the first 30 minutes are so incredibly moving, that the rest of the movie does seem to move at a much, much slower pace. Once the big moment occurs, Pieces of a Woman almost teeters on being a little too melodramatic and slow. With that said, the camerawork by Benjamin Loeb is a character in itself. Incredibly long takes bring you on a journey themselves and it took the overall story to another level for me. Having done the cinematography for the film Mandy, I guess that shouldn't have surprised me so much. It's very clear that Loeb has a keen eye on what will work for a specific film and what won't. I'm eagerly awaiting his next project.

In the end, Pieces of a Woman is probably the most challenging movie I've watched all year. Not only due to how depressing the story itself is, but how slowly the film moves along. It asks you to be patient and really dive into the emotional core, which I ended up finding incredibly powerful overall, even though the subject matter was almost too much to take in at times. The graphic nature of how certain things are displayed almost had me in tears alone. This is a film that doesn't hold back. It tells you the honest truth about situations like this and I found that very powerful. Not many viewers will be able to sit through this movie and want to call it great, but that's exactly what I believe it to be. A great, great piece of drama, even if it's brutally hard to watch.

Good film reaching but failing to be Great

[KingOfHungary · 6/10 · 13 September 2020]

It's a well acted tragic story that starts off excellently, but falls apart bit by bit the longer it goes until it ends on a whimper, as if the story got tired. Vanessa Kirby is equal parts excellent, and yet underacted in a sort of apathetic manner, where it began to hurt the story itself because her behavior was not shown to have anything underlying it, but her surface level was her entire level. Shia was excellent, as was the Mother. The film is very much in the style of Hungarian films, as the director is, and I say this in the way that this film could and would have been shot as a Hungarian film and played out exactly the same, if it had not been North American. In fact, it feels like an American adaptation of an existing Hungarian film, but this is it. The tone of the film jerks around somewhat, going with hard, every day realism, with odd smatterings of symbolism that just don't mesh well and come up like worn down speed humps on your drive, so instead of you getting seamless symbolism, they are stark and you are slapped aware of them when they show up. The dialogue is very good and realistic, except for a few instances where they get speechy and you start to fall out of the immersion because of it. The cinematography is very great, and the music works well. I think with some tweaks this could have been a great, even excellent movie, but what we got is a hampered result.

Watch Me Wallow

[drednm · 8 January 2021]

Horrible direction and glacial pacing kill this one deader than a dodo,

Speaking of dodos, why are all the characters in this film so damned dumb? Poor dumb Martha (Vanessa Kirby) is clueless. She wants to home birth her baby just because. We're not given any reason why. She probably saw it in a magazine or a TV reality show so she just wants to. Even during labor she doesn't have a clue what's going on (and she's been to birthing classes with her partner).

Boyfriend Sean (Shia LaBeouf) seems a tad more aware, but he's a manual laborer so no one listens to him. He defers to Martha and the midwife until it's too late. He's in thrall to Martha, who seems to come from money, and her imperious mother (Ellen Burstyn).

The movie then follows the aftermath of the birth as Martha sleepwalks around and refuses to accept or understand what's happened. Meanwhile the mother and sister launch a court case against the midwife. Martha grows apart from Sean as she wallows in her non-emotional state.

The courtroom scene is, I guess, supposed to be the dramatic climax, but it's as hollow as Martha's monotone speech. And by the time this happens, the audience has left the building.

Hideous direction shows us close-ups of shirt collars and all sorts of extraneous stuff. How about watching Martha walk up three flights of stairs? Yes, there's a thrill. How about endless shots of the river? Time passes. We get it.

I'll bet Kirby will be awash in awards but I found her annoying. And shall we talk about 88-year old Burstyn playing the mother of a thirty-something? She should have been the matriarchal grandmother. It would have made more sense.

And what's with the vague Jewish trope? I would say this film is a piece of something ... but it ain't a woman.

Heart-jerker like a Bergman film

[Come-and-Review · 9/10 · 5 September 2020]

I've seen several comparisons of Mundruczó's style to that of Cassavettes, but when the credits arrived, Bergman came to my mind: largely discoursive, disfunctional family relationships, and naturalistic dialogue despite the presence of a structured screenplay.

The english language debut of the hungarian director is built around eight different days, each distant about a month from the other, as it depicts the way the life of the titular woman changes after a tragic miscarriage. Most of the scenes use very well made one-shot sequences (particularly successful is one that happens very early in the movie, perhaps one of the best single takes I've seen in years, but it dangerously overshadowed the rest of the film

As I see it, a film is well writtwn when all its structural elements check out, and this is the case here: every piece of dialogue is deeply connected to the main story yet the overall effect of naturalism is unaffected.

Pieces of a Woman is a character-driven story, and thus the performances of the titular actors much be noted: not only the subtly emotional Vanessa Kirby but Ellen Burstyn's role as the protagonist'a mother, as well as Shia Labeouf's painful take on the partner's role.

Scorsese was totally right: this movie is surprising, yet in an unexpected, subtle way. Lookong forward for more Mundruczó.

the smell of apples

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 29 December 2020]

Greetings again from the darkness. It happens sometimes, but rarely. A single sequence in a film is so profound or unusual or artistic or affecting, that it alone makes the film worth watching. Such is the case with the labor-birth-midwife scene in this film from real life partners, Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo and writer Kata Weber. Much of it is an extended single continuous shot, and it occurs within the first half hour.

The only set up we get is that the husband, Sean (Shia LaBeouf) is on the construction crew building a new bridge, and that his wife Martha (Vanessa Kirby) is extremely pregnant on her final day of work before maternity leave. A strained relationship with Martha's mother is evident as she buys the couple a minivan. At home, the couple seems excited about the upcoming arrival of their first baby. When her water breaks, they are initially upset that their midwife can't make it for a home delivery, but soon enough, Eva (Molly Parker), shows up as a replacement and takes charge. The remarkable sequence is filmed in tight shots that add to the tension and come across as ultra-realistic as Ms. Kirby's strenuous performance.

The rest of the film follows the differing ways the couple, especially Martha, deals with the crushing emotional pain and unfathomable grief that comes with losing a child. It's the kind of tragedy that can tear apart a relationship and change, if not destroy, a person. Martha becomes isolated as she tries to make sense of something where logic doesn't apply. Sean is unable to connect with her, but falls into her mother's camp of seeking to avenge the pain. Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn plays Martha's domineering mother, and she is determined to make the midwife pay through jail time.

The rest of the film can't match that birth sequence for tension, but the cast is superb in capturing the various faces of grief. Ms. Kirby is a revelation and she immerses herself in the role - something frequent movie watchers will immediately recognize. Whether she's huffing with labor pains, sniffing apples in a grocery store, or floating through days and nights in a state of numbness, we feel every bit of what she's processing. LaBeouf handles the initial pain very well, but he's let down by the script through the balance of the story. Ms. Burstyn and Ms. Kirby each get another chance to shine as they face off at a family dinner in Act 3. Supporting work comes from Benny Safdie (actor-director known for co-directing offbeat films with his brother Josh), Iliza Schlesinger as Martha's sister, and Sarah Snook as the prosecuting attorney (and family member).

Scandal surrounds the project, not because of anything that happened during production, but instead due to the accusations Shia LaBeouf is facing from a former girlfriend. Separating the accusations from the performance is a choice each viewer will have to make on their own, and it can be noted that he, while a significant player in the story, is not the main focus. Chapter headings by month are used to assist us with knowing how much time has passed, and the under-construction bridge from the first scene acts as a metaphor in the film's final scene as the new reality is faced. Despite being a tough watch at times, and having a first act that sets an unsustainable bar, there is a lot to admire about the film. Martin Scorsese is listed as an Executive Producer and 3-time Oscar winner Howard Shore delivers a nice score. Living with loss is never easy, and at times seems impossible.

In theaters December 30, 2020 and on Netflix January 7, 2021.

Blame the midwife

[amyfleck · 3/10 · 13 January 2021]

This movie, while the performances were great was just stupid. And it's annoying this midwife was blamed at all. The prosecuting attorney talked about the public's hatred for her like she was Casey Anthony. Theres no way a case like this would even go to court. Theres absolutely no basis on why the midwife would be prosecuted. She didn't do anything wrong at all. Nothing. I mean the baby even came out alive and crying and as soon as she stopped crying midwife jumped to try to revive her. So I'm a bit confused by it all. Bottom line to all the wanna be progressive (or regressive, dependinghow you look at it) women out there in terms of childbirth, if you want to make sure you have a healthy, living baby in the end, have it in a hospital! Childbirth can be complicated, even dangerous, and women who want to have their babies at home are just asking for problems. 3 stars for performances alone.

Suspension Bridge resonance goof

[celalcelasun · 7/10 · 8 January 2021]

Sean talks about a suspension bridge built around 1940's (Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Washington State) that was collapsed because of resonance, looking at the oil on canvas painting of a suspension bridge and a mosque on the wall at the office of the prosecutor attorney.

In fact the painting is the view of the Bosphorus Bridge (renamed 15 Temmuz Sehitler Köprüsü after the coup attempt) which entered service in the year1973 at Istanbul Türkiye, connecting two continents; Europe and Asia.

The view of the painting is from an angle close to Ortaköy where you can see the Mecidiye Mosque on the European side, you can also see the giant flag of Turkish Republic on the Nakkastepe Hill at the Asian side of the city.

The filmmakers could have ask an American artist to make a nice painting of the Tacoma bridge.

Pieces of a Woman

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 28 March 2021]

This was one of the contenders of Awards Season I was looking forward to the most, having seen clips and Mark Kermode talking about it on BBC News, The Film Review. Basically, a happy couple in Boston, Martha (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Vanessa Kirby), an executive, and Sean (Shia LaBeouf), a construction worker, are expecting their first child. Martha goes into labour at their home and Sean calls their midwife, Barbara. Another midwife, Eva Woodward (Molly Parker), is sent in Barbara's place, as she is unavailable. Martha struggles with nausea and pain during contractions, but Eva is supportive, and Sean helps to keep her calm. When Martha reaches ten centimetres, Eva realises the baby's heart rate has dropped dangerously low. Sean asks Eva if they are safe to continue and Eva tells Sean to call an ambulance. Martha eventually gives birth to a baby girl who at first seems healthy. But shortly after, Eva notices the baby is turning blue and attempts to revive her as she stops breathing. Unfortunately, the child goes into cardiac arrest and dies before the ambulance arrive. The following month, Martha and Sean meet with a coroner. Sean is eager to find out what went wrong, while Martha is reluctant. They learn the cause of death has not yet been established but are told they were able to determine that the baby was in a low-oxygen environment. Proceedings against Eva have already started. Sean leaves, overcome with emotion, while Martha is almost emotionless and stays to talk to the coroner. She wants to donate the baby's body to science. Martha and Sean's relationship continues to be strained. The relationship between Martha and her mother, Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn), a wealthy Jewish woman, and Holocaust survivor, also becomes strained. Elizabeth wants to have a burial and funeral for the baby, Both Martha and Sean remain deeply depressed. Sean later starts to have an affair, having sex with Martha's cousin, Suzanne (Sarah Snook). He is a former drug addict, he has been sober for almost seven years, but he starts using cocaine. Suzanne is the attorney prosecuting Eva; she informs Sean that a potential lawsuit against Eva could be very lucrative. A month later, at a tense family gathering at her home, Elizabeth tells Martha that she has to attend Eva's trial and blames Martha for her baby's death because she decided to have a home birth. Elizabeth then tells Sean that she never liked him before offering him a cheque for large sum of money to leave and never return. Martha drops Sean off at Logan International Airport and he leaves for Seattle. Months later, Martha testifies at Eva's trial. She is interrogated by the defence about the dangers and complications of a home birth as opposed to going to hospital, while the prosecution questions if she truly trusted Eva to do her job. After her testimony, the judge allows her to address the court. Martha finally becomes emotional about her baby, she says that no conviction or lawsuit is ever going to take away her pain, and she states Eva is not to blame for the death of her child. A month later, Martha scatters her daughter's ashes into the river from the bridge that Sean helped to build. Years later, a little girl climbs an apple tree, picks an apple, and eats it. This little girl is Martha's daughter, Lucy (Juliette Casagrande), she helps her down and they go inside together. Also starring Iliza Shlesinger as Anita Weiss, Benny Safdie as Chris, Tyrone Benskin as Judge, and Jimmie Fails as Max. Kirby gives a highly convincing performance as the middle-class mother who cannot bring herself to truly acknowledge what has happened, LeBeouf is good as her partner who goes down a dark path, and Burstyn is great as the domineering mother pressuring her daughter to take legal action. The opening twenty-four minutes is a brilliant unedited long take of a realistic labour scene, the story going forward monthly to see the aftermath of the child's death and the relationship breaking down is clever, it really draws you in, a terrific drama. Very good!

Wonderful Acting

[Neon_Gold · 6/10 · 7 January 2021]

People are saying that this movie is fantastic for the first half and then kinda looses steam. I kinda of agree but I think that it is much more up and down than that. The opening is really good but is a little manic at time. This bothered me a little bit but then I got the feeling that maybe it was on purpose to sort of drag us into the feelings of the characters at that moment.

I do agree that this film does start to sag after the opening but it does have more peaks especially the scenes between Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn. The scenes in the later parts of the movie between them characters were so good to watch. It was just such a showcase of great acting.

One small thing I found Shia's character to just be unlikable but that may be the fault of Shia I don't know. He was just so boring and flat and terrible.

The film does look good and I think some of the small production design choices were really well thought out and I enjoyed the other little techniques that the film makers used to make it a little bit more Interesting.

The score was just a tiny, tiny little bit off for me. It was so close for me but when I was enjoying it there would be a turn and I would be like oh no that wasn't right.

The issues above are all pretty minor as I have one major one and that is the dialogue. It was so soggy. It was just like sluggish. Some of it was better than other parts but the clunkers were really just bad. There was a lot of "hi how are you" "I am good" "oh good me too" "that's good" "yeah that is good".

I think you could watch it for the acting and especially the first half and parts in the latter half.

Moving, Sensitive And Beautifully Crafted

[david-meldrum · 10/10 · 15 November 2021]

Very powerful, but still subtle, drama. The opening birth scene is truly extraordinary, and Vanessa Kirby's performance in that scene - and throughout the film - is a masterclass. It's a brilliant portrait of a woman who for the majority of the film has things happening to her, people doing things they think she needs, agency well-meaningless removed. Her core flinty resolve is hinted at throughout, and when it's finally allowed out it's beautifully expressed in a final few minutes that could feel like lazy grandstanding but is instead delivered with all the restraint needed. An excellent supporting cast too, especially Shia LaBoeuf as her partner. Moving, sensitive and well-crafted.

Pieces of a Screenplay

[berndgeiling · 7/10 · 11 January 2021]

The screenplay and the resulting formal structure of the movie left me a bit puzzled. Did they try to parallel the experience of this young woman, surpassing a deep life crisis after a miscarriage, on the formal level and the structure of the movie? The film never recovers from its strong first 30 min, after this you have the feeling it breaks into pieces, like the life of this young woman itself. Sequences seem fractured and shattered, not really motivated or combined in a convincing way. Dialogue and acting often seems loosely improvised and unconnected. La Beouf's part for example, the most unconvincingly motivated character for me, suddenly loosing any connection, vanishing out of sight. But that's exactly the way the grieving mother must have felt it herself! Maybe they did that intentionally to give us the feeling of loss, pain, anger and emotional estrangement this woman is going through. Strong supporting acts by Ellen Burstyn and Molly Parker. But the movie's core and center is Vanessa Kirby here, giving a breathtaking performance, she carries this film almost alone. In the end it doesn't leave you frustrated, it seems there's enough hope left for a new beginning in life.

I had to pause the movie and come back to it.

[Peachesnkream11 · 8/10 · 30 January 2022]

That home birth scene was intense especially since I almost had a home birth 11 months ago (thank God I decided to go with a hospital). I literally had to stop the movie and breathe because for the last few seconds I was inadvertently holding my breath. Astounding performances, good film, but not a film I can watch a second time.

Powerful drama with great acting but loses itself as the movie goes on.

[cruise01 · 6/10 · 8 January 2021]

3 out of 5 stars.

Pieces of a Woman is a fair drama film about a married couple Martha (Vanessa Kirby) and Sean (Shia Labeouf). As Martha is about to give birth at home. Calls for a midwife to help out. But things go horrible when the baby does not make it. Leaving the couple going through loss, grief, and struggling to move on.

It was a decent story. Which can be relatable to cases with couples dealing with loss. It is a powerful drama film. Starts out great for the first hour or so. The direction is raw and does not hold back. The birthing scene is tough and filled with emotions. Can be a tearjerker.

The performances is great with the cast. Vanessa Kirby did a phenomenal job with her role. And rest of the cast did a great job. Dealing with the struggle of loss.

I did find the music score by Howard Shore to be kind of disappointing. Making the film feel kind of slow and tedious. Which after the first hour. It does feel slow moving. They could have edited the long running time better.

It is a striking drama with great performances. But does feel a little dragged out. And long.

Raw and true

[851222 · 8/10 · 20 June 2021]

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Pieces of a Woman" (2020) is a drama which will stick with you for some time after watching it - and in a good ways. It is because of the intense and kinda jaw-dropping opening ~15 min. It is because of very strong performances by all involved, and very confident directing. Cinematography as well as music were very moody and kinda even haunting.

Overall, "Pieces of a Woman" is a movie about love and loss, and how that shapes one. Its a powerful movie and very worth seeing it.

Lots of Good Film Making Here

[chron · 6/10 · 13 January 2021]

I enjoyed the story. It is well told and well acted. It would have received a higher score from me, but the editing kept it from being a great film. There was a lot of B-roll, unnecessary scenes, and scenes that went on too long. At over two hours, there wasn't enough content to maintain an interesting pace. A re-edit to put it at 100 minutes would make for a better work of art.

That said, I recommend it.

Lament

[Cineanalyst · 4/10 · 8 January 2021]

"Pieces of a Woman" seems to be exactly what many others are saying about it: a partly well-acted movie that would've made for a decent 30-minutes short film followed by more than an hour and a half that's not as compelling. I don't have much to add to that because this is generally superficial filmmaking wallowing in grief that inevitably falters into melodramatics, including yelling and speechifying--even a speech in a courtroom that rather ruins what was otherwise a powerful moment involving a photograph of the mother with her newborn. Even the some-20-minutes long take, technically impressive though it is, of the birth scene is more showy than profound. After the title appears 30 minutes in, though, and beyond the credits appearing letter by letter (in pieces, in other words--get it) and sequences divided by gaps in time (more pieces), the picture is exceedingly uncomplicated in construction. It becomes mere dull melancholy. Long with ruminative shots, but nothing intelligent to think about.

But, sure, Vanessa Kirby plays quiet grieving with the best of them, especially when not required to suddenly emote excessively to demonstrate that grief. On the other hand, Shia LaBeouf goes the other typical direction in these movies, of booze, drugs and abusive outbursts and which is not helped at all by the star's real-life notoriety for the same. I suppose I prefer to see him in stuff not involving Transformers but this character is too far over-the-top in opposition to Kirby's relative restraint. Nothing particularly interesting is done with his job in bridge construction, either, beyond the obvious metaphor of "resonance" that their marriage clearly doesn't have. Although, I'm not even sure what Kirby's Martha does in her job except for perhaps that she received an office because, as evidenced by her entitled mother (Ellen Burstyn), she comes from money. Although I wouldn't be surprised if Burstyn, along with Kirby, receives awards attention, her character is nearly as "boorish" as LaBeouf's and is given dementia in the script because, I don't know, the filmmakers seemed to have forgotten to end the movie in a timely manner. "Pieces of a Woman" is a long slog with no payoff.

Good but not great

[mohammedsalehali99 · 7/10 · 21 January 2021]

Overall, this movie is pretty decent. I have to say that I expected a bit more but in the end I wasn't really disappointed. Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf were both great but there were moments in both of their performances that were just a little bit off. The highlight of the film has got to be its opening scene which is about 27 minutes long. This scene was absolutely incredible and highly salute them for their work. After that the movie goes up and down over and over again. It's meant to be sad and heartbreaking but I just didn't REALLY feel that when I was watching.