Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Pieces of a Woman’ on Netflix, a Ferocious Drama Anchored by Vanessa Kirby’s Performance

Netflix’s Pieces of a Woman probably needs a trigger warning for women experiencing even the tiniest bit of anxiety over their pregnancy. The film’s opening sequence, a harrowing and tragic depiction of childbirth, is unforgettable, searing and potentially traumatic, a worst-case scenario rendered all too real. Beyond that, it’s an actor’s showcase for a relatively new talent (Vanessa Kirby), a celebrated veteran (Ellen Burstyn) and a star whose real-life troubles overshadow his increasingly credible work (Shia LaBeouf).

PIECES OF A WOMAN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: Martha (Kirby) takes the glass elevator down from her office, her arms full of baby-shower gifts. Sean (LaBeouf) hops in his rusty pickup, having finished his shift on a bridge construction site. He grouses slightly about her mother, who paid for their new minivan — she didn’t need to do that, he can afford it, she’s always looking to undermine me, he says. Later: She stands in the kitchen. Uncomfortable. Contractions are six minutes apart. Her water breaks; she’s constantly belching, nauseous. He calls the midwife, and there’s a problem — she’s busy with another birth. But there’s a backup plan, and Eva (Molly Parker) arrives. Eva checks the baby’s heartbeat, and it’s good. Soon, Martha’s crazy with pain. She gingerly gets in the bathtub, then climbs on the bed. The baby’s coming. Eva’s soothing tone is replaced with an expression of concern. Their daughter arrives, she cries, Martha cradles her. Eva steps away, hesitates, tells Sean to call 911. The baby turns blue. He runs outside to flag down the ambulance. Sorrowful music swells.

Three weeks later. Martha goes up the glass elevator to her office. She’s stoic. Co-workers gawk as she walks by. She coolly asks a man to leave her desk. He didn’t know she’d be back already. She goes shopping at the mall, a little girl smiles at her; Martha looks down at her breast, a milk stain growing on her sweater. Her sober veneer contrasts Sean’s raw emotional state. He’s six years sober, but seems on the verge of cracking. Another few weeks go by. Martha, her mother Elizabeth (Burstyn) and Sean argue about the child’s gravestone. Martha wants to donate the body for medical research; they want to bury the child. Elizabeth pushes for a civil suit against the midwife, soliciting a lawyer cousin (Sarah Snook) for the case. Martha signs the paperwork at the research center.

A month or so goes by. The pain of loss and grief persists. Sean has relapsed. Martha is detached. Elizabeth keeps pressing for legal justice. Martha’s sister (Iliza Shlesinger) and brother-in-law (Benny Safdie) try to maintain a little peace. Transgressions. Secrets. Arguments. Deflection. Avoidance. Human failings. Time passes. The world keeps turning, cruelly.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo’s style includes some of the unblinking intensity of Yorgos Lanthimos (The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Favourite) and a bit of the immediacy of the Romanian New Wave (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days comes to mind). Kata Weber’s screenplay, with its intense interpersonal drama and East Coast setting, brings to mind Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea, but with less emphasis on dialogue.

Performance Worth Watching: Burstyn is brilliant, and enjoys a showstopping Oscar-clip speech, and LaBeouf shows more of the truly lived-in, natural charisma of his strong recent work in The Peanut Butter Falcon and Honey Boy. But Pieces of a Woman is Kirby’s film, and she’s a revelation — intense, committed and empathetic throughout.

Memorable Dialogue: “You need to speak your truth, otherwise you’re never going to be able to deal with this.” — Elizabeth’s wise motherly advice for Martha

Sex and Skin: Some graphic male and female nudity; an awkward and kind of disturbing scene of coitus interruptus.

Our Take: Pieces of a Woman takes a peculiar arc, from harrowing realism to overwritten, from highly credible to somewhat incredible by the end of its two hours. The first 30 minutes comprise a one-take/one-shot endurance test, a gripping dramatization of a home birth gone wrong, and while it’s not visually graphic, it’s so emotionally grueling, it guarantees our investment in the characters and story. The rest of the film marinates in the fallout of tragedy, as Martha is reduced, as a human being, to the worst day of her life and little else. It’s her winter of discontent, mixing in Sean’s fragility as a recovering addict, and her mother’s classism and quest for legal vengeance. She suppresses her feelings so she won’t be overwhelmed by them, and surely wonders if she’ll ever feel whole again. Likely not.

As the film progresses, it veers from Mundruczo’s docudrama style and feels overwritten, saddled with heavy-handed symbolism. That doesn’t fully neuter the story’s power, though — extraordinary performances maintain our immersion, and the moral struggle at the heart of the plot retains its thoughtful potency. There’s heartbreak everywhere, but how much blame? Kirby owns the picture and its subtle feminist undertones, and her strongest moments are those where she doesn’t speak and nonverbally communicates the pain of a life redefined in but a few horrible moments.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Pieces of a Woman is a hell of a movie. But the ferocious intensity of its opening sequence means it’s not for everyone.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Read more of his work at johnserbaatlarge.com or follow him on Twitter: @johnserba.

Watch Pieces of a Woman on Netflix