Pieces of a Woman
Short description
Martha and Sean Carson are expecting their first child in Boston when a home birth attended by a midwife ends in the death of the baby. What follows is a year in which Martha tries to carry her grief while those around her expect it to take a shape they recognise. Her marriage to Sean strains under the weight of the loss, and her relationship with her domineering mother, Elizabeth, becomes another source of pressure. A legal case against the midwife moves forward, and Martha must live through it.
Kornél Mundruczó directed the film from a screenplay by Kata Wéber, with Vanessa Kirby as Martha, Shia LaBeouf as Sean, Ellen Burstyn as Elizabeth, Sarah Snook, Iliza Shlesinger and Benny Safdie among the cast. It is a Hungarian, Canadian and American co-production. It followed Mundruczó's Jupiter's Moon from 2017 in his filmography.
On IMDb it holds a rating of 7 out of 10 from around 60,000 votes, and on TMDB 7 out of 10 from roughly 1,300 votes, while a critics' rating of 6.8 out of 10 reflects 240 reviews, placing professional and audience assessments in a similar range.
What's left behind the scenes
- After reading the script, Vanessa Kirby went to Budapest to express her admiration to screenwriter Kata Weber and director Kornél Mundruczó. She really wanted to play Martha, as she hadn't had the opportunity to play such a character before. Mundruczó and Weber were very impressed with the actress, she reminded them of stars of European cinema from the past. According to them, as soon as they announced that Kirby would be starring in the lead role, the film’s budget was immediately cut due to Kirby’s lack of “star” status.
- It took two days and six takes to film the 30-minute opening scene of the childbirth. The fourth take was the one used in the film.
- Vanessa Kirby has never given birth herself, so as part of her preparation for the role, she watched a lot of videos and documentaries. She also shadowed midwives at a hospital in London, and was even allowed to observe in the operating room during a delivery.
- To a certain extent, the film is inspired by the story of Ágnes Gereb, a highly experienced Hungarian obstetrician-gynecologist and advocate for home births, who was nevertheless tried for the death of a baby during an extremely difficult delivery.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
