TIFF 2020 Review: Pieces of a Woman

Title: Pieces of a Woman
Year: 2020
Director: Kornel Mundruczo
Country: Canada
Language: English

My seventh feature at the Toronto International Film Festival, Pieces of a Woman is part of a trend of TIFF 2020 movies; the title card comes very late into the picture. We see the title immediately after an unbroken 23 minute sequence where Martha (Vanessa Kirby) writhes in pain as she is giving birth at home with her husband Scan (Shia LaBeouf) and midwife (Molly Parker) by her side. It's a distubring, gut-wrenching, heart breaking scene that would deserve an Oscar if it were a short film by itself. 

In this picture,a grieving woman (Vanessa Kirby) embarks on an emotional journey after the loss of her baby.

The first 23 minutes of Pieces of a Woman is phenomenal in regards to direction, camerawork, scripting and acting. Vanessa Kirby should win many awards for her sheer intensity & desire to get across the pain of childbirth. After this Oscar worthy scene, the film skips forwards in time, dropping in on the characters every couple of week. Our cast is always in turmoil, with emotions cranked up to 11. Many scenes come across as a Douglas Sirk  melodrama, bordering on camp. 

The emotions never have time to breathe, at times Pieces of a Woman has the frenetic pacing of an action movie & the fragmented sections always take us to odd locations. One moment we're at a funeral home discussing graves, the next we're at a courtroom setting complete with a last minute change of heart speech. You want to love this film, but you're constantly pushed away by the execution of the material. 

Pieces of a Woman was a worthwhile watch, and is enjoyable if viewed as an over-the-top camp melodrama like Magnificent Obsession & All that Heaven Allows. If viewed without any irony, this film falls quite short past the brilliant opening scene.