It's a stunning piece of filmmaking, directed by Kornel Mundruczo with finesse and impressive logistical adroitness but that’s how far as it goes, writes Ann Hornaday.
Lindsey Bahr
” Pieces of a Woman “ begins with a tragedy. Martha (Vanessa Kirby) is expecting her first child with her partner Sean (Shia LaBeouf). For a few minutes, we see them in the final stages of preparation for life with a baby: She’s saying farewell to her co-workers and packing up her things; Her mother is signing the papers on a practical minivan; And they’re hanging the final photos up in the well-stocked and tastefully neutral nursery.
Then, suddenly, Martha is in labor and for almost 30 minutes the audience is given a front row seat to the most realistic and graphic depiction of a home birth ever put on film. It’s a difficult labor Martha is almost drunk with pain and it’s made even more stressful by the fact that their midwife is unavailable and a replacement is sent. Then it ends in death.
‘Pieces of a Woman” begins with a tragedy. Martha (Vanessa Kirby) is expecting her first child with her partner Sean (Shia LaBeouf). For a few minutes, we see them in the final stages of preparation for life with a baby: She’s saying farewell to her co-workers and packing up her things; Her mother i
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In a film about the death of an infant, Kirby delivers a stunning performance.
• 6 min read
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You ve probably seen Vanessa Kirby before, maybe as the young Princess Margaret opposite Claire Foy s Queen Elizabeth in the first two seasons of The Crown, or as the dagger-wielding power broker opposite Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible Fallout. Now the talented British stage actress grabs her first starring role in a film and knocks it out of the park. Her vehicle is Pieces of a Woman, a powerhouse drama debuting this week on Netflix.