I've seen several comparisons of Mundruczó's style to that of Cassavettes, but when the credits arrived, Bergman came to my mind: largely discoursive, disfunctional family relationships, and naturalistic dialogue despite the presence of a structured screenplay.The english language debut of the hungarian director is built around eight different days, each distant about a month from the other, as it depicts the way the life of the titular woman changes after a tragic miscarriage.
The first one-shot 30 minutes of the movie is a piece of art.
It's a well acted tragic story that starts off excellently, but falls apart bit by bit the longer it goes until it ends on a whimper, as if the story got tired. Vanessa Kirby is equal parts excellent, and yet underacted in a sort of apathetic manner, where it began to hurt the story itself because her behavior was not shown to have anything underlying it, but her surface level was her entire level.
This is a film that will be on my mind for a while. It's hard to enjoy a movie that's incredibly depressing, but Pieces of a Woman is one that I got behind.
Unforgettable opening scene with a woman giving birth played by the talented Vanessa Kirby. And also the veteran Ellen Burstyn, wow, she is so great, probably as never before.
"Pieces of a Woman" has remarkable cinematography, including an almost 30 minute "oner" shot that has your immediate attention. The dialogue in the film is so crisp and realistic and it comes as no surprise to me that it was first a stage play.
Most intense first 30 minutes I've seen in a long long time. Absolutely gut-wrenching and anxiety inducing.
The first 40 minutes are so exciting...this flick will probably go to the oscars .
Vanessa Kirby should be nominated for her turn as the beleaguered Martha in Pieces of A Woman. Martha suffers in the first thirty minutes through childbirth to an unhappy conclusion, just one of the several setbacks that support her pervasive unhappiness.