Pieces of a Woman (Review) starring Vanessa Kirby & Shia LaBeouf

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Pieces of a Woman was previously reviewed at TIFF 2020.

PLOT: A woman (Vanessa Kirby) and her partner (Shia LaBeouf) struggle to move on after a home birth goes disastrously awry.

REVIEW: PIECES OF A WOMAN is one of the early major acquisitions to come out of this year’s scaled-down edition of TIFF, with it having sold to Netflix worldwide. Certainly, it’s a bold, praiseworthy choice for them to acquire as it’s a somber, often riveting family drama that harkens back to the gut-punch domestic dramas of the 1970s. It will stay with you long after the credits roll, and establishes Vanessa Kirby as perhaps the next big A-list star. Her performance is so good that it seems likely she’ll get some major attention during this year’s awards race (she’s already won the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival).

Coming from WHITE GOD director Kornél Mundruczó and frequent collaborator Kata Wéber (who wrote the screenplay), the film is built around an unlikely couple from opposite ends of the socio-economic spectrum. Vanessa Kirby’s Martha is well-heeled, with a high-paying office job and a rich family, headed by Ellen Burstyn as their driven matriarch. By contrast, Shia LaBeouf’s Sean is a blue-collar rough and tumble sort, looked down on his partner’s family as boorish, but also naturally funny and easy to get along with – provided he sticks to his hard-won sobriety.

Things go to hell quickly for the couple, when their home-birth goes awry, with the late arrival of a replacement midwife (Molly Parker) who seems vaguely unsure of herself. It’s all depicted in one long, unbroken take that’s impossible to take your eyes off of, as the dread mounts and mounts until the inevitable end.

From there, the relationship between Martha and Sean starts to come apart at the seams, with Mundruczó’s focus mainly on how Martha comes to terms with the loss. This includes agonizing scenes where she lactates for a baby that’s no longer there and has to deal with a mom who's looking for someone to punish – in this case the possibly innocent midwife. Kirby’s got an amazing part, with her grief turning to white-hot rage at times as she tries to move on but is utterly refused any ownership over the disaster by her overbearing family. This is the type of role that could put someone on the A-list, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see her land leading roles in huge movies after this.

LaBeouf is also excellent as the male half of the equation, who deals with his grief by going down a road laced with self-destruction, pulling apart his already fragile life piece by piece. It’s another heavy part for the always committed LaBeouf, and the domestic scenes between him and Kirby are unnerving in their ramped-up intensity.

The supporting cast is similarly strong. Ellen Burstyn seems a likely candidate for a best-supporting actress campaign as Martha’s overbearing mom, who, in a jaw-dropping moment, tells a story about her own mother’s experience with her during The Holocaust, that’s incredible in its intensity. At eighty-eight years old, she’s as good as she’s ever been. Also look out for UNCUT GEMS co-director Benny Safdie and THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO’s Jimmie Fails as sympathetic folks in their orbit, while Iliza Shlesinger plays Martha’s sister. Sarah Snook also has a strong part as the tough prosecutor they hook up with, while Molly Parker is wholly sympathetic as the mid-wife who, in many ways, is as much of a victim as anyone else.

One thing that’s worth mentioning about PIECES OF A WOMAN is the slightly surreal quality Mundruczó gives it, with it very evocatively filmed in Montreal, even if it's supposed to take place in Boston. The period is also hard to pin down – with people still using film cameras, and no cell-phones on screen, although it still seems to be set in the present as at one point they reminisce about The White Stripes. It’s anytime and no time it seems.

Sure enough, PIECES OF A WOMAN is another strong TIFF 2020 selection and further proof that even if the lineup is smaller, the bar for quality is as high as it’s ever been. Keep an eye out for this one, I’ll though I suspect everyone will hear a lot about it come awards time.

Pieces of a Woman

AMAZING

9

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