By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3.2 cats
Director: Kornél Mundruczó
Starring: Benny Safdie | Ellen Burstyn | Iliza Shlesinger | Molly Parker | Sarah Snook | Shia LaBeouf | Vanessa Kirby
Country: canada, hungary, united_states
Year: 2021
Running time: 126
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11161474/reference
Chris says: “The first half-hour, which mostly consists of an extended tracking shot is not only an impressive technical feat but also an effective choice in what it depicts (a nerve-wracking home childbirth.) However, the remainder vindicates my mixed feelings about Kornél Mundruczó’s celebrated previous film WHITE GOD. It’s not so much his reliance on melodrama as the contrivances one can so easily succumb to with the genre. The ensemble is good (one of Molly Parker’s best roles, actually), even if Vanessa Kirby feels slightly miscast to me, and I don’t know what accent Shia LaBeouf’s attempting (like the Boston-set, filmed-in-Montreal production, it ain’t Boston); the problem’s more in the script, which takes a convoluted time to arrive where it does. Also, who gets their baby photos developed on film in 2020? 2.5 cats”
Michael says: “The English-language debut of Hungarian, Chlotrudis-nominated director Kornél Mundruczó (WHITE GOD) is a powerful if uneven portrayal of devastating loss and grief, and how that can create emotional chasms between people who love each other. The film opens spectacularly, with a nearly half-hour, real-time sequence with nary an edit to be seen. It’s a tense, slow-build sequence as Martha and Sean, are faced with the home birth they’ve been planning for for months. Of course, there’s always a hitch, and their midwife is unavailable, so a sub arrives, with calm assurances, to deliver their baby. As one might suspect from the title of the film, things do not go well, and the remainder of the film deals with how this situation affects Martha, Sean, and those around them.
“To start with, Vanessa Kirby (who I was not familiar with) really sold it for me. Her emotional reserve seemed so much more real than hysterical wailings, or outward signs of grief. Oh, the struggle is there, and Kirby lets us see it in her eyes, or in quiet outbursts aimed at those she loves. But there is much of what she is feeling that is left hidden, even to the viewer, until the appropriate moment. Shia LeBeouf is more showy as Sean, a blue-collar construction foreperson working on a bridge to span a large river in Boston (not sure where that’s supposed to be!) A former addict, resentful of his mother-in-law and her upper-class attitudes, Sean is fairly broadly written, and suffers the weakest arc in the screenplay, but LaBeouf does his best and for the most part succeeds. Ellen Burstyn as Martha’s mother, is the icy, emasculating mother-in-law, who definitely rises above the script (if you see a pattern, the screenplay is the films weakness) even manages to pull off a rather clumsily written and shot monolog through her skills alone. Most memorable (no surprise if you know me) is Molly Parker’s supporting role as Eva, the midwife, who ends up on trial for her actions. Her first appearance is a beautiful example of subtlety in acting, as she capably handles the home birth situation, and when things start to go a little awry, you can see it in the tiniest ways even as she calmly keeps the situation well in hand… until she doesn’t.
“Ultimately, despite the clumsy, heavy-handedness of parts of the screenplay, I give PIECES OF A WOMAN high marks, based on performances, Martha’s throughout and powerful story arc, and the deft filmmaking from Mundruczó and cinematographer Benjamin Loeb 3.75 cats“