Pieces of a Woman (2021) Review

This film has had plenty of critical acclaim to it but hasn't been available to see and now Pieces of a Woman has come to Netflix and here is my review for it. The premise of the film sees a woman hit by a personal tragedy and how she reacts to it and attempts to live her life over the next year. 

Main Character

Vanessa Kirby plays the lead here and she does a fantastic job here, she is so great in her role and you really sympathise with her and feel bad for her as she attempts to get on with her life. There has been Oscar buzz about her performance and she does enough here for that to be deserved and let's hope she gets recognition for this performance as it is really strong. 

Supporting Characters

I am going to look past the real life issue with Shia LaBeouf and just talk about his acting here and I thought he was really good here. I thought the dynamic between him and Kirby was interesting and well handled, you see there different reactions and coping mechanisms and yes it makes him more unlikeable but you kind of see where he is coming from with his grief, though the film fails with the way his character ends up. Ellen Burstyn plays Kirby's mother and is also good here, she owns the screen and her scenes with the other two main characters are gripping and that is because of her quality. All the other performers do a good job too and the best part of this film is the acting for sure. 

Story

The story is quite gripping and does a good job in showing how tragedy can affect people in different ways. Also the first half an hour and had me on the edge of my seat just as much or more then any big action film could and credit has to go to the actors and director for achieving that. But the issue this film has is that it can't keep the pace and intrigue up and falls flat after the first 30 mins, it's still fine but it just coasts by and doesn't do enough to stand out. 

Script

The script is okay with a few really dramatic scenes in it but this film is really grim which is understandable because of its subject matter but the humour it attempts does fail pretty badly. Also there are certain elements of the plot that feel a bit forced and I do wonder why they were included here, maybe just to get the film to the 2 hour mark. 

Style 

As I said before the first 30 minutes is filmed brilliantly and the style for it adds so much to the whole thing and adds to the whole drama. Though the film slow in its pacing after that and as I said above I think there were a few parts of the plot that were unnecessary and that doesn't help with the pacing of the film as a whole. 

Overall

Overall, this is a really well acted film that is well directed that ends up being a good film. It doesn't do enough to hit the really high levels but is a good film if you can deal with the serious subject matter. 

Rating - 7/10