Pieces of a Woman is an emotional drama dealing with grief, loss, womanhood, and broken familial relations. This film is a devastating and realistic portrayal of people hurting each other after a tragic loss because they don’t know how to cope with loss and pain. Such a difficult topic, so authentically realized into cinematography.
The first 30 minutes of this movie are actually perfect. The filmmaking and performances are so powerfully done, making the opening scene really engaging. Even though I knew what was coming, I was just 'glued' to the screen throughout that entire long take. Truly never seen anything like it. The audience is experiencing everything with the characters as they experience it. Unfortunately after that, things fall off a bit, the film turns to a cliché family gathering and trial. Lots of the choices work really well, but it still felt like they went a little overboard with the melodrama.
Vanessa Kirby’s performance was just flawless. Shia’s, on the other hand, felt very... well, Shia. He was good but not very memorable and not different to how he has portrayed characters in many other films. I get that the movie focuses on the female side of grief, but I don’t know why they had to include the themes of sobriety and addiction. There was a half-hearted attempt to show an addict relapsing and then Shia LaBeouf's character was pushed aside and never returns. This felt unfinished.
This is very much an actor's showcase but aside from Vanessa Kirby, other actors don’t have much to work with. Even Ellen Burstyn is misused. I wanted to see more of how a mother is not able to help her daughter during such a difficult time. I also didn't really understand the importance of Sarah Snook's character. She basically played Shiv Roy 2.0. The story would have stayed exactly the same if she had been removed. The script just doesn’t take time to explore the different characters.
Pieces of a Woman really doesn't bring anything to the table apart from the acting and directing. But it's certainly a gripping drama. Not a lot of movies portray such an intimate perspective of grief like this one.
