Here’s a bitter slice of depression pie. And I’m not just talking about those imagining being married to Shia LeBeouf … although in retrospect that couldn’t possibly help. I can sum the film up in just a few words: young couple loses baby, never gets over it. But such a glib recap can’t possibly mine the depths of the disappointment and the pain, or how everybody tangentially involved is crushed by the experience.
Martha (Vanessa Kirby) and Sean (LeBeouf) are about to have their first child. They’ve opted for home delivery with a midwife (Molly Parker). The latter is a substitute; they’ve chosen a different midwife, but that one couldn’t brave the Boston winter and sends another in her place. Long story short. Sorry, long and PAINFUL story short, the birth fails, then succeeds, and the newborn succeeds, then fails. And the couple is destroyed by the events.
I think you have to be a monster not to sympathize with Martha and Sean at this point in the narrative. Here’s the thing: few people ever “get over” losing a child. Nor should they. Pieces of a Woman takes two major tacks at this point — the strain on the marriage and the “who’s at fault?” angle. These are both realistic ensuing courses of action. It is easy to see any couple experiencing the bitterness of child loss in these ways. The problem with the film is that only one of these stories is compelling.
Vanessa Kirby was nominated for her role here. Shia LeBeouf was not, but both deliver admirable performances; I think this is very difficult acting. This isn’t Mark Wahlberg or Anne Hathaway territory; this is pain. True pain. And it’s pain where you have to pretend to your screen family and friends like you aren’t in pain while letting the audience know you secretly are. If they had given the Oscar to Kirby, I’d have no problem with that.
Now, whether or not you enjoy Pieces of a Woman is a very different story. Watching this couple fall apart and try to reinvent themselves serves as a chilling reminder of how much life can suck even when Trump 
or pandemic aren’t issues. Of course, watching people in pain is not everybody’s bag of meth. Some of us still can’t even tell Shia from Shinola.
Pieces of a Woman is an emotionally complicated film and occasionally flat-out tough to watch. There was even subtle reminder of the omnipresent societal intolerance for grief. Now, to my mind, this would have been my version: it would have started the same yet evolved into a situation where Martha and Sean became increasingly isolated because they couldn’t “let it go.” Society has a great threshold for OUR collective pain (The Alamo, Pearl Harbor, 9/11, etc.), yet holds a miniscule tolerance for YOUR pain. My version of Pieces of a Woman would have focused much more on the Us v. Them aspect of aftermath instead of a stupid court battle … as if suing the doula can make this right somehow. My vision wasn’t where the movie went; you may decide for yourself whether or not that’s a good thing.
There is no magical release
When a baby of your is deceased
“Pieces” left behind
In the whole of your mind
Be thankful, cuz you sure won’t get “peace”
Rated R, 126 Minutes
Director: Kornél Mundruczó
Writer: Kata Wéber
Genre: Lives you don’t want
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who need movies to experience emotions they dare not feel themselves
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: “Who wants to be depressed?”
