Pieces of a Woman Analysis

Pieces of a Woman (2020)

Directed by: Kornel Mundruczo
Written by: Kate Weber
Starring: Vannesa Kirby
Featured in Martin Scorsese's recent 40 best films of all time list. 
Streaming on Netflix. 

The writer-director couple wrote a play of the same name, which the film is based on, after going through a miscarriage themselves. The film talks about grief and dealing with loss. Coincidentally, I read a similar chapter yesterday in Cheryl Strayed's Tiny Beautiful Things, where a woman was dealing with guilt post miscarriage. Films dealing with grief usually follow the 5 stages of grief for structure: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance (Sound of Metal was a recent example). Here, we see Martha being in denial - where she rejects every feeling that she's conventionally supposed to feel, she turns cold towards everyone (mostly her partner). And then there's anger, when she confronts her mom and there's bargaining and depression when she's in self doubt herself as to what to do next, and when she decides to go to the court. It's acceptance, when she finally tells the truth by addressing the court, and accepts what it is. 

The play performed in Poland was done like a mix of a film and a play - where the birth scene was filmed with a camera and screened live in screens. That tells us why they'd have probably done the entire birth scene in a single shot. I'm surprised that I didn't even notice it was a 24-minute take without a cut - that's how immersed I was in the scene - because usually I notice long shots. The simple fact that I didn't notice, states that the scene worked for me. Vanessa Kirby was terrific in portraying the physical pain, and the way it was shot - I sometimes felt like the husband beside - who could do nothing but just keep praying that it happens well. The scene with the mother - it was a terrific scene, in spite of it being a monologue - because it flips the entire motive of the character - her mother challenges Martha by making her face the truth and inspires her to face it in front of the world. The choice of the location - the snowy landscapes - it helped in capturing the grief, along with the beautiful score. This film reminded me of '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days' which is also made with a similar subject matter and stylistic choices.