PIECES OF A WOMAN

Vanessa Kirby     Shia LaBeouf     Ellen Burstyn

Benny Safdie     Sarah Snook     Molly Parker

 

     This is a powerful film.  It shows so much sensitivity—toward women and men—I became convinced the writer (a woman) and the director (a man) must have worked hand-in-glove with one another, as well as with the cinematographer.  And sure enough, director Kornel Mundruczo, writer Kata Weber are partners in real life. But with the inclusion of cinematographer Benjamin Loeb, it constitutes the impressive team that brought an artistic, psychologically informed work into being, not excluding the fine actors.  It touches on a number of controversial topics so relevant in our times.

     Pieces of a Woman traces the path from exultation about a first pregnancy in which everything doesn’t go well through the immediate (six months), bombarding effects upon a family.  It details different ways of coping among a number of people and how those differences can have long-term effects.  The film brilliantly chronicles what I have for some time come to realize—that losing a child is probably the worst thing that can happen to someone.  Such a profound experience is sure to foster long-term consequences for those involved.

     Martha (Kirby) and Sean (LaBeouf) appear to love one another intensely, and are overjoyed to be expecting their first child.  Sean is a gruff member of a bridge-building team who has a tender side, making it easy for him to give his wife the support she needs in the pregnancy.  They decide to have a midwife (Parker) for the birth.  How will that go?

     The ensuing events tell the story of how this will all turn out, given the interrelationships we only discover later in the film.  

     Most touching are the scenes showing the breakdown of the relationship between Martha and Sean.  Martha’s adversarial relationship with her mother (Burstyn) is already foretold. Others between Sean and his brother-in-law Chris (Safdie) show the compromised position Chris is in. The relationships woven in between Sean and his mother-in-law, and an attorney (Snook) are plausible additions that enhance the suspense of the story.

     Vanessa Kirby and Shia LeBeouf are well cast as the central couple, and make us believe they’re truly undergoing the pain.  Ellen Burstyn as the interloper-mother-in-law plays her role to the hilt—behind-the scenes manipulator with few scruples.  And, finally, Molly Parker as the accused midwife shows all of what she is supposed to in her role.

     This movie was more difficult to stay with than I expected—primarily because of the long birth sequence (30 minutes).  Maybe the filmmakers needed to show this to people who haven’t had a baby, but for one who has been there (albeit under much less stressful circumstances), I found it hard to watch.  This led to my next question of who is this movie for?  Those who have been under similar circumstances? Perhaps, but I figure few people have gone through anything similar.  There is a thought that perhaps the writer and director have had just such an experience, and the film is a way to express what they went through.  

     At any rate, Pieces of a Woman is worth seeing, particularly for those awaiting a birth of a child and are curious—and if they have secured a midwife.  But otherwise, I’m not sure who will be interested in the film.  Part of my problem is with the title, Pieces of a Woman, which implies that there are only pieces of us.  We are all a whole, so I have no idea what the filmmakers intended.

As a chronicle of childbirth attended by a midwife, this film is excellent. I’m just not sure how many in the general public will find it relevant.

 

Chronicle of the effects of the loss of a newborn child on a family.

 

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland

WINCHESTER

Helen Mirren     Sarah Snook     Jason Clarke     Finn Scicluna-O’Prey

     This work of horror and intrigue, co-written with Tom Vaughan by Directors Michael and Peter Spierig (identical twins born in Germany and working in Australia), does what such a picture is supposed to do—keep us on the edge of our seats, play into common fears about old mansions, and pull us into the world of spirits and ghosts as it tries to convince the character, Dr. Price (Clarke), that the spirits/ghosts are there for a cause and a purpose. 

     Dr. Price has been contracted by the board of the Winchester Company to evaluate the mental stability of Sarah Winchester (Mirren), heir and half-owner of the Company, out of their concern for the company’s solvency.  Is she still fit to be on the board?  She has been adding onto her mansion in San Jose, California, for years; construction goes on 24 hours a day.  She says the purpose of this work is to calm the spirits of all those who have been killed by Winchester guns.  Sarah is convinced that if she shows them remorse, they will be at peace and go on to a better place.  She builds a room for each of them until they get that peace, then they move on.  (Now, those who never get to a calm place must be locked away in their room with, specifically, 13 nails.)

     Eric Price, a staunch empiricist, is quite prepared to consider Sarah delusional, even though eerie things begin to occur immediately after he arrives at the Winchester mansion—glimpses of strange figures flitting by, the bells tolling precisely at 12:00 every night, and of course unexplained noises at all times of day.  Once, when he goes to investigate, he peers through a door slightly ajar to see Sarah in a trance gazing upward, and sketching instructions for re-building that someone seems to be telepathically sending her. 

     Sarah has her trusted niece Marion (Snook) living in the house with her young son Henry (Scicluna-O’Prey), and he shows strange and even dangerous behaviors from time to time.  The question arises about whether he is cursed as a Winchester or simply showing signs of grief over the loss of his father. 

     As time goes on, the weirdness increases to a point that it looks like everyone and everything will be destroyed. 

     I think Winchester succeeds in what it is attempting to do in its genre, and beyond this, astute observations are made from time to time that give it more depth, such as making the point that sometimes real (i.e., personal) experience is more valuable than professional training.  It especially highlights the motivations that can result from guilt—Mrs. Winchester’s for the damage her gun company has done, and Price’s for his role in his deceased wife’s demise.  Just importantly, it shows how each is able to assuage guilt through action and/or taking a different perspective.

     Helen Mirren’s artful portrayal of a woman with spirit, determination, self-confidence, and a little quirkiness is persuasive in drawing us into her world, just the way she draws in Clarke’s Price.  And he skillfully transitions from a grieving skeptic without a purpose in life to someone drawn in to more meaningful endeavors.  Snook, as the intensely loyal but thoughtful niece shows the bind her character gets into when she gets put between Winchester and Price.  Young Scicluna-O'Prey as Henry is alternately endearing and frightening, depending on whether he is a normal boy or caught up in a spirit’s machination. 

     I interviewed the Spierigs at the South by Southwest Film Festival in 2014 where their film Predestination, based on a Robert Heinlein story, premiered.  It has a complex plot, full of intrigue and social issues and, like this film, shows their creative thinking merging with social conscientiousness.  I was impressed with them then, and regard them as filmmakers who will advance the artfulness and thoughtfulness of films for years to come.

An intriguing horror film with a wonderful blend of history, biography, and fantasy.

Grade:  A                                    By Donna R. Copeland