Pieces of a Woman
“And if I stand here and ask for compensation or money, then I’m saying I can be compensated and I can’t. I can’t bring her back.”
Martha
Summary:
Martha and Sean are super excited to become parents very soon. Although Martha’s mom can’t stand Sean, life seems to be looking up for the couple. With their hearts set on a homebirth, they plan to have Barbara, their midwife, present when the birth occurs. This is where the trouble begins. The night that Martha begins having contractions, Barbara is preoccupied with another birth, and she sends Eva instead. The home birth results in a heartbreaking loss of life and a hole in Sean and Martha’s lives.
Characters:
Martha is the mother of this movie who loses her child during a difficult childbirth. Following the event, Martha is distant from her friends and family, swallowed by her grief. Her partner, Sean, is a construction worker. As the childbirth was a home birth, Sean is a supportive partner, who stays by Martha’s side during her tough times. After the death of the baby, Sean does everything he can to help bring Martha back from the pits of her grief.
Austin: 8.2/10
This is a very emotional and powerful movie. It starts off bright and cheery, kind of an everyday life feel, but then it takes a swift and sudden turn down the dark path for the remainder of the movie. It details the struggles and pain that follows the loss of a child, and it doesn’t shy away from any events or details that follow. We see both main characters go down drastically different paths, further and further from each other. The authentic emotional display by the actors does a wonderful job of promoting the themes of loss and grief.
This movie is harsh and in your face at points but for the plot and the themes, it needs to be. The dialogue is a little bit sloppy in points, outside of the realm of what can be considered part of the emotional effects. The characters are decently written, but the big thing for me is that they are developed immensely. By the end of Pieces of a Woman, the characters are different people than they were at the beginning. This drastic change of characteristics allows the themes and tones to sink in a lot deep than if the characters were virtually unchanged.
If you watched the movie, DNA, this movie follows the same idea, loss and dealing with that loss after the fact. The main difference for me was a clear plot and some good character development. I still think the plot in Pieces of a Woman was a little bit cramped and lacked flow, but it is head and shoulders above DNA.
Overall this is a decent movie that tackles some uncomfortable realities that many people have dealt with and will deal with. It is a captivating movie that is more of a downward slope compared to the emotional ups and downs we typically see. Netflix is your go-to for this movie, check it out!
Nathanyal: 8.0/10
For those familiar with our website, this movie has a lot of similarities to DNA. In both of these movies, there have been focuses on a tragic event followed by the development of characters after the event. Now, where Pieces of a Woman differs is in its execution. In this movie, the opening scene of the childbirth, which captivates the audience and sets the movie off on a tense and emotional journey. From here, the developments of the characters are strong. Each event and reaction seem normal and can be found in our day-to-day lives. This movie also benefits from a smaller cast of close characters. From here, we can really tell the changes of each character and their interactions with each other.
The only major downside of the movie is the pacing. After the tense 30 minutes opening scene, the following events seem slow by comparison. The pace does pick up again around three quarters through the movie.
Overall, the movie was quite a tense and emotional rollercoaster of an adventure. It is really interesting watching the characters grow and change. As long as you can get through the slow middle part, the conclusion of the movie does pick up and is quite interesting to watch.
Sebastian: 7.8/10
This film gives a detailed and emotional telling of the tragedy that plagues a woman after the death of her infant child minutes after birth.
I think that this film did a good job of showing the emotional turmoil of the protagonist Martha and how she moves forward. The plot of this film is pretty straight forward with very little surprise or development other than the last third and in my opinion, is not the best part of the film. However, where the movie shines is the characters as they are well developed, complex, and very well acted. We see how Martha ( as played by Vanessa Kirby) struggles after the loss of her child and becomes closed off to her family and her partner Sean ( as played by Shia LaBoeuf ). Sean was a supportive partner but after losing his child his wife stops talking to him and he begins to crack. This spirals him down a path that distances him from Martha forever. After a strong opening, this film becomes slow-paced and depressing with long-drawn-out scenes, and I will admit that it lost my attention a few times. The movie deals with a dark and sad subject but handles it quite well showing a variety of reactions that different characters experience. The last third did help the film by re-engaging me in the story and having events happen though unfortunately, in my opinion, I feel that it wasn’t enough to say I enjoyed the film.
All in all, this was a film that had some really good characters and the quality of the acting was high. I can’t say I enjoyed the film but I am glad I saw it as it is a realistic drama that has strong emotional moments and that I would recommend to anyone looking for this genre of film on Netflix.
