Hard to watch but a stellar performance

The first 30 minutes of the new critically acclaimed Netflix film Pieces of a Woman are not particularly easy to watch. And overall the film depicts the angst of a woman stemming from the death of her newborn child. But the film’s actors, pacing, score and realistic melancholy makes for something of an artistic achievement. Hungarian Kornél Mundruczó directed from a screenplay by his partner Kata Wébe, based on their own experience of losing a child. (Martin Scorsese is the film’s executive producer.) Vanessa Kirby (The Crown) plays Martha, and her partner Sean by Shia LaBeouf. The film’s story takes place on a number of intertwined levels. There is the post-partum depression Martha undergoes and how it affects her own life and those around her. There are the ensuing relationship strains with Sean, who superficially seems incompatible as he’s just a regular guy construction worker (“I’m not an intellectual,” he protests during an argument) and she a more sophisticated professional. Add to the mix the dynamics between Martha’s mother Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn), overbearing and guilt-tripping - “if you’d done it my way you’d be holding your baby in your arms right now”. Her way would have been giving birth in a hospital but Martha opted for home birth. The problem – the crux of the story - is the chosen midwife couldn’t arrive fast enough when Martha went into labor. So a substitute, Eva (Canadian actress Molly Parker) arrives. All goes well until it doesn’t. And the midwife ends up being charged criminally. The story is supposed to take place in Boston but Montreal is the set for most of the story, the movie shot during frozen winter days in December 2019 (I knew right away the outdoor scenes were  too frosty for Beantown!). The acting all around is very good – especially Kirby as she slides deeper into depression and psychological fissures become fractures. But I was most impressed by Sarah Snook as Martha cousin Suzanne, whose nonchalance performance captivated me. I was surprised Shia LaBeouf was used, given his stream of various personal controversies including plagiarism and alleged sexual assault (Netflix removed LeBeouf from the film’s publicity). But he’s a stellar talent, I suppose. Besides the acting and pacing Pieces of a Woman is underlined by a gentle and contemplative score by Canadian composer Howard Shore, known for his work with David Cronenberg.