Pieces of a Woman

I was interested in seeing Pieces of a Woman because Vanessa Kirby won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival last year.  I had the chance to see it last night and I was absolutely blown away by her performance.  Martha Weiss (Kirby) and Sean Carson (Shia LaBeouf) are an unlikely couple who are expecting a baby and hope to have a home birth.  When Martha goes into labor, they learn that their preferred midwife is unavailable and a replacement named Eva (Molly Parker) is sent instead.  Tragedy strikes when the baby's heartbeat slows down during the labor and, even though Eva does everything she can and eventually has them call for an ambulance, the baby dies shortly after it is born.  Martha must deal with her overwhelming grief, the disintegration of her relationship with Sean, and the pressure from her overbearing mother (Ellen Burstyn) to prosecute the midwife.  As I mentioned, Kirby gives an incredibly powerful and poignant performance.  The scene in which Martha goes into labor and gives birth happens in one long and sustained shot and it is absolutely brilliant because it is so immersive.  Martha's emotional confrontation with Eva in court is also an incredibly intense moment but I found the scene where she returns to work after her maternity leave, in another long tracking shot, to be so heartbreaking because none of her colleagues know what to say to her which adds to her isolation.  Burstyn and LaBeouf also give outstanding performances but it was sometimes difficult to watch the scenes where Sean becomes abusive towards Martha in light of the recent allegations against LaBeouf.  I loved the recurring motifs of building of a bridge and the germination of an apple seed because they represent the ways in which Sean and Martha are able to heal.  This movie is devastating to watch and, while it is not quite as good as Ordinary People or Manchester by the Sea (which, in my opinion, are two of the best movies about death and its aftermath) because it founders a bit with the addition of some unwieldy subplots, it is a very authentic portrayal of grief and I highly recommend it for the performances.  It is in theaters for a limited engagement and then begins streaming on Netflix January 7 (today).