Pieces of a Woman Movie Storyline. Martha and Sean are a Boston couple on the verge of parenthood whose lives change irrevocably when a home birth ends in unimaginable tragedy. Thus begins a yearlong odyssey for Martha, who must navigate her grief while working through fractious relationships with her husband and her domineering mother, along with the publicly vilified midwife, whom she must face in court. A deeply personal, searing, and ultimately transcendent story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss.
Pieces of a Woman is a 2020 Canadian-American drama directed by Kornél Mundruczó, from a screenplay by Kata Wéber. The film stars Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Molly Parker, Sarah Snook, Iliza Shlesinger, Benny Safdie, Jimmie Fails, and Ellen Burstyn as the family and associates of Martha (Kirby) involved in her traumatic childbirth, baby loss, and a subsequent court case against the midwife, Eva (Parker), whom Martha’s mother Elizabeth (Burstyn) blames for the baby’s death. Martin Scorsese and Sam Levinson served as executive producers, and the film was scored by Howard Shore.
An international co-production of the United States and Canada, the film is in part based on Mundruczó and Wéber’s stage play of the same name and explores themes of grief and loss. It premiered on September 4, 2020, at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, where Kirby won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress. It was released in select theaters on December 30, 2020, before beginning to digitally stream on Netflix on January 7, 2021, and became noted for its long take childbirth scene at the start of the film.
The film received generally positive reviews, with praise for the actors, particularly Kirby, though elements of the plot were criticized. Kirby was nominated for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice Award, and SAG Award for Best Actress in 2021.
About the Story
Martha and Sean, a young Boston couple, are expecting their first child. Sean resents Martha’s mother Elizabeth, a wealthy Holocaust survivor, who is buying them a minivan. Martha goes into labor at their home and Sean calls their midwife Barbara, who is unavailable and sends another midwife named Eva in her place.
Martha struggles with nausea and pain during contractions and, when she reaches ten centimeters, Eva realizes the baby’s heart rate has dropped dangerously low. Sean asks Eva if they are safe to continue and Eva tells Sean to call an ambulance. Martha soon gives birth to a baby girl who at first seems healthy. Eva then notices the baby is turning blue and attempts to revive her, but she goes into cardiac arrest and dies.
The following month, Martha and Sean attend an appointment with a coroner; Sean is eager to find out what went wrong, while Martha is reluctant. They learn the cause of death has not yet been established but are told they were able to determine that the baby was in a low-oxygen environment and start proceedings against Eva. Sean leaves, overcome with emotion, while Martha remains and decides that she wants to donate the baby’s body to science.
The relationship between Martha and Sean continues to be strained, as is Martha’s relationship with her mother, who wants to bury the baby and have a funeral. Both Martha and Sean remain deeply depressed. Sean returns the car that Elizabeth bought for them. He later has sex with Martha’s cousin, Suzanne, and uses cocaine after being sober for almost seven years. Suzanne, who is also the attorney prosecuting Eva, informs him that a potential lawsuit against Eva could be very lucrative.
At a tense family gathering at her home, Elizabeth tells Martha that she has to attend Eva’s trial and blames Martha for her baby’s death because she decided to have a home birth. Elizabeth then tells Sean that she never liked him before offering him a check for a large sum of money to leave and never return. Martha drops Sean off at Logan International Airport and he leaves for Seattle.
Months later, Martha testifies at Eva’s trial. After her testimony, the judge allows her to address the court, and she states that Eva is not at fault for the death and that she does not blame her. Back home, she discovers that the apple seeds she stored in her refrigerator have started to sprout. A month later, Martha scatters her daughter’s ashes into the river from the bridge that Sean helped to build.
Pieces of a Woman (2021)
Directed by: Kornél Mundruczó
Starring: Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn, Molly Parker, Sarah Snook, Iliza Shlesinger, Benny Safdie, Jimmie Fails, Domenic Di Rosa, Vanessa Smythe, Gayle Garfinkle, Alain Dahan
Screenplay by: Kata Wéber
Production Design by: Sylvain Lemaitre
Cinematography by: Benjamin Loeb
Film Editing by: Dávid Jancsó
Costume Design by: Rachel Dainer-Best, Véronique Marchessault
Set Decoration by: Frédérique B. Ste-Marie
Art Direction by: Mette Haukeland
Music by: Howard Shore
MPAA Rating: R for language, sexual content, graphic nudity and brief drug use.
Distributed by: Netflix
Release Date: September 4, 2020 (Venice), January 7, 2021 (Canada), (United States)
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