THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The responsibility of being a mother is arguably the most difficult compared to being a father because of how women must carry the burden of having an unborn child in their body for months until it is ready to be born. What some people fail to understand is the pain women go through giving birth after months of taking care of their body for that moment. The last thing they would expect is to see their greatest creation to die in front of them after finally bringing them into the world.
PLOT
Based on the 2018 stage play by Kata Wéber, the film’s screenwriter, Pieces of a Woman follows Martha Weiss who is pregnant, days away from giving birth to her firstborn. One night, she is going into labour and her boyfriend Sean calls the midwife. Their original midwife is unable to attend so they call the replacement Eva (Molly Parker) for backup. As the delivery progresses, Martha suffers from nausea during contractions while the baby's heart rate drops. Eva continues with the process believing it to be safe to do. The baby does come out of the womb but her life is short lived as her skin goes blue and dies after going into cardiac arrest. A month after this tragedy, Sean and Martha are both battling their own depression. Their relationship is becoming dysfunctional as she refuses to talk to him, not showing any interest in him. Martha contemplates on donating the baby's body while Sean and her family want to bury it. There is a lawsuit against Eva, as she is being blamed for the baby's death. Sean breaks sobriety by taking cocaine, along with having an affair with her cousin Suzanne (Sarah Snook). Since she is the attorney prosecuting Eva, she tells him that they have a good chance of winning. The unhappy couple visit Martha's family but the smiles disappear when her mother Elizabeth claims that if she didn't go through a home birth, her baby would still be alive. She even tells her that she must attend the trial, which she doesn't want to do. Since she never liked Sean, Elizabeth gives him money for him to leave and not return. Surprisingly, Martha does take him to an airport where he would exit her life. She does attend the trial to testify but she states that it wasn't Eva's fault and doesn't blame her for what happened. The month after that, she scatters her baby's ashes into a river. The film ends in a distant time period, where we see that Martha has another child who climbs down an apple tree.
THOUGHTS
If you don't make expectations for a movie, there's a good chance you'll love it. This was my case with this movie because I had no idea what it was after hearing about it, yet I enjoyed what I got out of it in the end. This one will remain significant because director Kornél Mundruzcó helps viewers understand that losing a child is never an easy moment to go through. While it is possible to move on, one's grieving process is always different. With the use of Benjamin Loeb's cinematography, the labor scene is phenomenal to witness, like the rest of the movie that followed, because he is ensuring that we are experiencing what the characters are going through. A lot of labor scenes from prior movies, no matter what genre, don't exactly bring that to the table and I give this one credit for succeeding. I also think there was a great cast at hand to embody this heartbreaking story. Vanessa Kirby is the number one reason to see this movie because she is at her very best here playing Martha. I've seen her in other films but I feel like she'd been misused and thankfully, this is not the case. She is front and center playing a woman who is at a point where her grief makes her uncertain on what she wants to do but eventually finds the strength to have a clear mind again. I found relief on how she defended Eva because it is true that nothing can undo what happened and it's wrong to find the blame in something you can't control. The fact that she scattered the ashes at the bridge Sean helped build symbolizes her forgiveness towards him. It really doesn't matter how she ended up having another child, whether it was adopting or conceiving, because what matters is that she is at peace and she will take advantage to enjoy her second chance. Shia LaBeouf is the opposite side of the coin whereas he represents Sean as one who seems to give up completely. Every time he tries something and fails, he stops trying. Even though you want to hate the path he follows and the choices he makes, you still can't help but feel bad for him as he is the one who seems to be the most broken. Whatever plane he took, I hope he finds peace with himself as Martha did. Last but not least, the legend Ellen Burstyn still finds a way to be a powerhouse no matter what role she gets. As Elizabeth, she presents her as a mother who comes from the right place but tries too hard. She wants her daughter to be strong but uses the wrong words. I mean you don't blame the parent for the death of their child when it clearly wasn't. Because of how she says that, along with not exactly letting Martha grieve the way she wants to, you want to hate her. I don't think that feeling lasts because when Martha defends Eva at the stand, she does regain the strength she had hoped to see from her. Even though I enjoyed this movie, there were two things that bothered me overall. First off, why did everyone at Martha's work stare at her all at once? Sure it implies that they heard about what happened to her but she could've noticed and it would've gotten more weird. And that is what I call unnecessary suspense. Second, how is a case against on the news? I know anything can be a headline but considering I haven't seen a case like this, it does feel hard to believe that this would be as relevant as 'The People vs OJ Simpson'. Other than that, this movie is still intriguing to witness. In short, Pieces of a Woman is a great movie that gives an important interpretation on grief and motherhood, one that may be difficult to witness but worth it in the end. If you have Netflix and desire the kind of films that are an experience, this is the one for you.
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