2020\u2019s contender for the title is Korn\u00e9l Mundrucz\u00f3\u2019s Pieces of a Woman<\/em>. While it\u2019s not the most over-the-top example of this annual occurrence, the story is among the hardest to engage with: a woman, Martha (Vanessa Kirby) struggles to navigate her profound grief after the loss of her baby daughter during a tragic home birth. While the performances throughout are admirable \u2013 particularly Kirby\u2019s \u2013 Mundrucz\u00f3\u2019s direction and Kata W\u00e9ber\u2019s screenplay mistake tragedy and melodrama for profundity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The film\u2019s first half hour is a genuinely impressive feat. In a series of short scenes, Martha and her partner Sean (Shia LaBeouf) prepare for the arrival of their little girl. They get a minivan courtesy of Martha\u2019s chilly, somewhat controlling mother Elizabeth (Ellen Burstyn). Martha goes on maternity leave. Sean gives Martha a set of framed photos of their daughter\u2019s sonogram. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Roughly 10 minutes in, Mundrucz\u00f3 gives us a 20 minute-plus single take of Martha\u2019s labor, which feels harrowingly realistic. Her chosen midwife is unavailable, so a substitute, Eva (Molly Parker), comes to help. Martha is miserable, but seems to be progressing fine, until the baby\u2019s heart rate suddenly drops. She gives birth to a seemingly healthy baby girl, but her joy quickly turns to tragedy when the baby dies moments later. The rest of the film follows the fallout of that event, with Eva facing a criminal trial for the baby\u2019s death, and Martha facing pressure from Sean and Elizabeth to tack on a civil suit as well, with Martha\u2019s lawyer cousin Suzanne (Sarah Snook) taking the case. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The 30-minute opening feels like an intense but well-executed short film. Mundrucz\u00f3\u2019s one-r, while certainly impressive, mostly serves to keep viewers present in the scene. The trick works, and the performances sell those emotions. It\u2019s equally stunning, however, how quickly that strong first impression falls apart. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mundrucz\u00f3 marks time throughout the film with images of an unfinished bridge, a leaden visual metaphor for the way Martha\u2019s grief has separated her from her family. Supporting characters deliver oddly constructed lines or break into monologues that come out of nowhere, including a speech from Burstyn that feels like an Oscars clip lifted from a totally different film. Subplots involving Snook\u2019s Suzanne and Martha\u2019s coworker Max (Jimmie Fails) similarly seem to drop out of the grim Boston sky, but imply dramatic heft that simply isn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kirby barely gets enough screen time as Martha, considering she\u2019s supposed to be the film\u2019s emotional lodestone. However, she does her best to make that journey feel honest, and the attempt is admirable. In fact, most of the film\u2019s performers maintain a strong sense of naturalism, when the script isn\u2019t asking them to break into hysterics. The issue is that the material they\u2019re working with simply isn\u2019t very good. It\u2019s frustratingly easy to see an effective movie in Pieces of a Woman<\/em>. Unfortunately, it\u2019s bogged down by a prestige-y pretension that aims for greatness, yet uses all the wrong metrics of how successful art actually works. It\u2019s hard to watch, all right, but not for the right reasons. “Pieces of a Woman” is now streaming on Netflix<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Pieces2-1024x554.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nC-\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n