Directed by Kornél Mundruczó
Written by Kata Wéber
Starring Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn
Running time 2 hours 6 minutes
MPAA rating: R

by Jaime Davis, The Fixer  

One of the things I love most about art, either viewing it or making it, is the release that can come from it. By making something of our own or contemplating something someone else made, we can feel lighter, or maybe we can make sense of an experience we’re going through, or maybe just feel seen and understood. Watching movies certainly does this for me. Like Celeste and Jesse Forever, about a couple trying to stay friends after getting divorced, helped me navigate my own divorce and similar friendship that resulted. Feeling pretty unsure of myself after coming out at 36, Beginners showed me there isn’t necessarily a “right time” or “right age” to live your life the way you need to. And I think for many out there, Pieces of a Woman may help those processing the devastation that comes from a miscarriage or death of a child, which makes the movie important. For director Kornél Mundruczó and his partner Kata Wéber, who experienced such a tragedy, collaborating on this film was their own form of catharsis – they wanted to help themselves get through it but also potentially help others by showing how they’re not alone. This on its own makes the idea of Pieces of a Woman critical to me. While I have problems with the finished product, the fact that it was wrought out of pain to provide relief – well, I feel that makes it worth watching. Already released on Netflix on January 4, 2021, I worry that any potential significance will be greatly overshadowed by one of its stars. No not, Vanessa Kirby, who’s received much praise – I’m talking about Shia LaBeouf.  

I first read about Pieces of a Woman after its premiere in September 2020 at the Venice Film Festival – I felt like I read a million mentions of Vanessa Kirby’s standout performance all in the span of just a few days and immediately added it to my watchlist. Kirby was my favorite part of the one and a half seasons of The Crown I’ve watched (I know I know! I need to watch more of it but…TV is hard. There’s too much good stuff to watch.) and I absolutely adored her as a badass bad girl in Mission: Impossible – Fallout. So the prospect of watching her take to the lead of a project so strongly had me super excited. The buzz around the pic included similar acting praise for (queen) Ellen Burstyn and (gulp) Shia LaBeouf. I’m not a huge Shia fan, but after last year’s heart-breaking Honey Boy, I begrudgingly developed a soft spot for him. He’s insanely talented and what a shame how he was raised, you know? At least, that was my thinking. With all of the positivity swirling around Pieces of a Woman, it quickly became one of my most anticipated movies in the early lead-up to awards season. 

Also in September, Shia LaBeouf exited Olivia Wilde’s second directorial feature, Don’t Worry Darling, due to “scheduling conflicts”. A few months later, news broke about FKA Twig’s intimate partner abuse allegations against him, and while I wasn’t surprised to hear it, I was quite shocked and outraged at the level of violence he exerted against her. Immediately, his stock re-plummeted, rightly so. Rumors started going around that he was similarly abusive towards more recent girlfriend, actress Margaret Qualley, which was quickly becoming detrimental to her career – talent agents, casting directors, and filmmakers began seeing her as a potential liability to their business and projects. Not long after, Qualley announced a split from LaBeouf (again, not surprised). And thennnn it came out at the end of December 2020 that Olivia Wilde had actually fired LaBeouf from Don’t Worry Darling because he was a little shit and replaced him with Harry Styles. I think it all worked out for Wilde cause she and Harry are dating now? But phew, LaBeouf. What a year. It got me thinking about the implications for Pieces of a Woman – could Kirby’s big moment be obscured by LaBeouf’s horrific behavior?   

When Netflix removed Shia’s name from its For Your Consideration awards page for the film, it was pretty clear the streamer was working overtime to clean up Shia’s mess. The PR machine started coming out in full force with a Variety interview in which the Pieces filmmakers discussed “separating the art from the artist” in the most diplomatic of terms. Meanwhile, Vanessa Kirby spoke out in support of survivors, while avoiding any specific attacks on her co-star. I went into Pieces of a Woman with all of this information at my disposal, and as much I fought against it, my viewing experience discolored, and when his character veers into destructive, violent territory, it made it all the harder to watch. Even more disconcerting, with a title like Pieces of a Woman, the very first scene is solely from the perspective of LaBeouf’s perspective, and there are other scenes where we exclusively follow his character. And while I’m not suggesting the filmmakers should have edited things differently in light of LaBeouf’s issues, I do feel the intent and focus of the film feels a bit lost at times. There are moments when you don’t know who you’re supposed to be rooting for – Kirby’s inert Martha or LaBeouf’s initially sweet and bumbling turned aggressive Sean. Should we want them together or apart? Knowing what we know about LaBeouf in real life significantly shadowed the film for me, and I really hope it hasn’t done the same for other viewers, or worse, Academy voters. 

If you haven’t yet watched, you may have heard about its completely intense, riveting 24-minute single take birth scene that is just some of the most amazing minutes of filmmaking I’ve ever seen. This on its own makes the film worth spending some time on. I felt a real emotional contract between Molly Parker as the midwife and Kirby and LaBeouf as expectant parents – a real connection and immediacy between all three that makes for electrified viewing. But, sigh, while LaBeouf is gifted for sure, he’s not a good human. How do we rectify that? Do we let his transgressions go and enjoy his performance purely at face value? 

Despite this thrilling scene in Pieces of a Woman, the overall film feels overdone, with the filmmakers tackling trauma, the different ways people grieve, a slowly imploding relationship, class struggles, managing sobriety – all with a courtroom drama and a bucketload of symbolism involving the changing seasons and planting seeds. You’re too much, movie! Like, it’s a lot to take in, and to me, all of these competing messages detract from the beauty of Kirby’s performance and the perfect intensity of the birth scene. Part of me wishes Mundruczó and Wéber had kept it simple – streamlining and editing until they had something that more resembled the title, or could sustain the energy of the birth. 

But when I think about how this film came about, it makes sense that it’s all over the place and goes off on seemingly unnecessary tangents. Grieving is different for everyone and the way in which the film feels messy and sprawling appears to mirror the act of mourning itself – sometimes when we’re going through something, we take one step forward only to take three steps back. Pieces of a Woman is an accurate depiction of what it can feel like to walk into a struggle and eventually make it out on the other side. And while there is much to deplore about Shia LaBeouf – the person and the character he portrays – I hope audiences continue to experience the film anyway, at least to see what Vanessa Kirby can do. 

 Pieces of a Woman is streaming on Netflix.