by Matt St Clair
British thespian Vanessa Kirby has been on a steady rise, having earned an Emmy nomination for playing Princess Margaret on The Crown while kicking action ass in both Mission Impossible: Fallout and Hobbs & Shaw. With Pieces of a Woman, Kirby is finally given a project where she takes center stage and she emerges as the shining star of a picture that’s drenched in darkness due to its distressing subject matter.
The first major sequence in Pieces of a Woman involving Martha's (Kirby) home birth will be a deal-breaker for some viewers...
That's due to its length and tension, strenuously shot in one continuous take by DP Benjamin Loeb, and tragic conclusion. For those who get past that big opening, the rest of Pieces of a Woman doesn’t match the same frenetic tone, yet the shift works to the film's advantage.
[MILD SPOILERS] As Martha and her husband Sean (Shia LaBeouf) deal with the aftermath of the home birth, the now slow-moving picture drags on as a reflection of Martha's sustained heartache, thanks to genius editing by David Jancso. When the midwife (Molly Parker) who aided in the birth is put on trial for criminal negligence, it only adds to Martha's personal crisis as she reluctantly attend the trial as suggested closure. [/SPOILERS]
Vanessa Kirby successfully details how post-partum Martha is a different woman, cut off from her husband and anyone who shows her affection. It’s a soul-bearing portrayal of grief that, without sounding hyperbolic, is akin to Juliette Binoche in Three Colors: Blue. Another performance that won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.
Aside from a few more demonstrative moments, Kirby's performance involves a lot of quiet observing and processing. But even with just a glance, the talented actress can make us feel the anguish weighing on Martha as with a scene where she’s riding on a train and notices a child making a handprint on the window. It's a small beat that becomes a shattering reminder of what Martha lost.
Within the constraints of her short screen time, Ellen Burstyn is in similar powerhouse form as the overbearing mother Elizabeth. That's especially true in what’s surely her Oscar clip moment where she’s had it with Martha shutting everyone out. She gives a show-stopping monologue in an attempt to force Martha to live through the pain. Outside of that big moment, Burstyn demonstrates a mix of semi-controlling support for Martha and sly hostility towards her son-in-law due to his outsider, working-class status among Martha’s more affluent family. It's wonderful to see the Oscar-winning veteran get another vital role that’s worthy of her talents.
The class conflict is just one of the layers in the sscreenplay by Kata Weber which also attempts to juggle the debate of home vs. hospital births and Martha’s more intimate personal journey. Ultimately, Pieces of a Woman works best when it focuses on Martha’s interior turmoil and path towards recovery, acting as a simple technical and acting exercise. It only really scratches the surface of the other topics it attempts to address. In short, go for Kirby and Burstyn and stay for Kirby and Burstyn. B+
Pieces of a Woman is now streaming on Netflix