PIECES OF A WOMAN deals with a topic most people don’t want to talk about. It is raw, real and gritty. The beginning sequence, even before the opening credits, reels you in to a home birth of a little girl. It shows the pain of labor and delivery that most do not often witness. And it drops you into utter despair as things go so wrong.
This movie is about the death of a child…the loss of a baby. It shows how the grief that follows can destroy families, because everyone wants answers. They crave a sense of normalcy when there is nothing to grasp or hold onto. Each family member deals with the death in a different way, but it is the Mother’s grief, we are compelled to watch. Her story pushes and leads the story forward throughout the darkest times.
We are one as she endures the silence from others who don’t know what to say. We feel every trigger as she is drawn to other children. We watch the drug, alcohol, violence, affairs and even running away to try to find a safe place to heal. The strongest moments are when Vanessa Kirby and Ellen Burstyn are together. We needed to see more exploration of their relationship on screen and less of the too many subplots.
PIECES OF A WOMAN demands us to really see and understand our loss, because then and only then can healing begin and the pieces will reform and allow us to move forward.
PIECES OF A WOMAN is available to stream on Netflix.
