TIFF 2020 film review: 'Pieces of a Woman'

(Image courtesy of TIFF)

What happens to a married couple following after an insurmountable tragedy? The marital drama 'Pieces of a Woman' (screening during the 45th Toronto International Film Festival) finds a couple reeling from unexpected tragedy that shakes their relationships to the core.

In short: A grieving woman embarks on an emotional journey after the loss of her baby. Stars Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Snook Benny Safdie and Ellen Burstyn.

Martha and Sean's home birth scene is undeniably one of the most harrowing, intense 20 minutes in all of 2020 cinema. The first quarter of the film is invested in this one singular event. A kinetic, nervous energy fills the room as Matha's labor quickly escalates from seemingly, deceptively normal and makes a sudden and agonizing turn. It's absolutely unreal to watch Kirby and LaBeouf in what amounts to one, singular, unbroken sequence, as they ride the emotional rollercoaster of labor - which, even in the best of circumstances, is emotionally exhausting. Thirty minutes is a lot of real estate to devote to any one plot point - but it absolutely anchors the rest of the film, so much so that the film's title card doesn't even pop up on screen until after this unexpected prologue.

The film's opening hints at some underlying cracks in the family relations, between Martha, Sean and her family, but everyone is so happy and excited for the baby, that these minor slights are largely ignored. The rest of the film, however, lives in those cracks - which become overwhelming chasms between characters as they forge their own independent, isolated paths of grief.

Martha moves with what can only be described as high-functioning shock. In the immediate wake of an unimaginable loss, Martha is as present as she can be - but she walks through life with a thousand-yard, glassy eyed stare. Vanessa Kirby deserves every acclaim and honor for a restrained performance that telegraphs a deeply wounded emotional heartache lying just below her seemingly detached surface. She's in full-on survival mode for most of the film, but Kirby's complex, layered performance doesn't reduce deep grief as any one singular emotion. It's as if she's feeling every agonizing emotion all at once, while simultaneously denying herself to feel any of them.

Director Kornél Mundruczó's ('White God') film introduces an absolutely brutal scenario that works best when it just allows Martha, Sean and their family to deal with the fallout. If drama is conflict, then 'Pieces' resonates deeply when its characters are forced to deal with the heart-rending inner conflict of loss and a crippling absence. But throughout the story, which spans weeks and months after Martha's loss, a criminal court proceeding simmers in the background. It's meant to give the film some scaffolding and shape for Martha's character arch, however this somewhat forced narrative never meets the film's emotional peaks that it discovers in its hope open-ended, emotionally honest moments.

Final verdict: 'Pieces of a Woman' is a devastating portrait of grief powered by a career-defining performance for Kirby.

Score: 4/5

'Pieces of a Woman' screens during TIFF 2020. This drama is not yet rated and has a running time of 103 minutes.