Pieces of a Woman Review: a broken woman and a shocking film

Pieces of a Woman Review: It was the cinema shock of the start of the year. “Pieces of a Woman”, on Netflix, tells the heartbreaking story of a couple who lose their child at birth. The new film by Hungarian director Kornél Mundruczo is of rare intensity and emotion.

Pieces of a Woman Review:

This regular at the Cannes Film Festival had already seduced us with his last two films “White Dog” in 2014 and “Jupiter’s Moon” three years ago. He proves to us, once again, that he is a great filmmaker. He evokes here a strong subject for an important film.

Rarely have the themes of trauma and the loss of a child been approached so head-on in the cinema, except perhaps with Lars Von Trier with his film “Antichrist”, which won Charlotte Gainsbourg an interpretation prize. at the Cannes film festival.

Ten years later, and for her first major role in the cinema, it is the actress Vanessa Kirby, revealed by the series “The Crown” on Netflix, who follows suit, screaming with pain and realism in this shaking film.

Its major asset lies in a breathtaking introductory scene, filmed in one go. This long sequence shot lasts 25 minutes and focuses on childbirth that goes wrong.

Pieces of a Woman: A tragedy filmed by a virtuoso

It is impossible to remain unmoved by the tragedy that the character of Martha and her companion, Sean, played by Shia LaBoeuf will have to face.

Filmed like Polaroid snapshots over several months, the film retraces of course the main stages of mourning, but also all the work of reconstructing the characters, each engaged in very different steps. Confusion, anger or the search for someone responsible, everyone will have their own way of trying to overcome the drama.

It is one of the great cinema shocks of the beginning of the year by a virtuoso director who masters the power of the off-screen and also knows his subject very well. The story is inspired by the personal experience of Kornél Mundruczo with his companion the screenwriter Kata Weber.

Two years ago, he made a play out of it. Today it is Martin Scorsese who produces their film.