Film Pick of the Week: Pieces of a Woman - review by Yvette Huddleston

Young Boston couple Martha Weiss (Kirby) and Sean Carson (Shia LaBeouf) are eagerly awaiting the birth of their first child, who they know is a daughter. They have decided on a home birth and have been making preparations with their midwife Barbara who will attend when the time comes. Unfortunately, however, when Martha’s contractions start in earnest, Barbara is not available and she sends another midwife, Eva (Molly Parker) instead. Things seems to be progressing well but then Eva notices that the baby’s heartbeat has dropped and is evidently in distress. From that point on, events unravel very quickly.

The 23-minute single shot that follows the labour from the early excitement through the sense of impending doom to the tragic outcome is incredibly well handled; so believable and authentic. The one-take approach is not used as a showy device, but rather as potent way of involving the viewer sensitively in this intimate event – you are inside the apartment with this couple and their midwife and are present at an unbearably sad moment in their lives.

The film then focusses on the aftermath of the baby’s death. The different ways in which Martha and Sean cope, or not; the effect the loss has on their relationship and how the tragedy impacts on others in their lives. Ellen Burstyn is formidable as Martha’s wealthy, controlling mother who disapproves of her daughter’s choice of husband and makes no secret of it. She insists that Martha and Sean sue the midwife and organises for a lawyer to take their case. Although Martha is reluctant, she goes along with it, mostly because she doesn’t have the strength not to as she watches her life, her work and her marriage start to fall apart.

There is, not surprisingly, a European sensibility to the pacing, cinematographic framing and use of music that is interestingly at odds with the East Coast America setting. That’s not a criticism; in a way it helps to give this very personal story – Mundruczó and Wéber have said it was inspired by their own experience of loss – a universal resonance.