TIFF 2020 to premiere tonight 'Pieces of Woman' depicting a couple's deep loss

Presented in the plot of the story are Martha (Kirby), a tightly wound executive, and Shawn (LaBeouf) a construction worker, with a turbulent past falling in love across a class divide and are expecting their first baby. But due to the complications with a midwife (Parker), their planned home birth id gets interrupted making the couple deal with a devastating tragedy.

While Martha responds quietly at first with her body still believing she is pregnant, Shawn, in his helplessness and fury, looks for someone to blame for their loss. Even Martha’s mother (Burstyn) expressed her helplessness. As Martha attempts to cope up with the loss, a clashing environment from her community makes her realizes that to survive, she would have to forge her own path.

Working from a screenplay by Kata Wéber, and in North America for the first time, Hungarian director Mundruczó, known for developing strong characters under pressure, directed the cast of the film Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, Ellen Burstyn, Benny Safdie, Sarah Snook, Molly Parker, Jimmie Fails, and Iliza Schlesinger.

Shot in Montreal and set in Massachusetts, 'Pieces of a Woman', is a gradual release from winter into spring during which time  Mundruczó framed the scenes of a woman forced to form a new relationship with her body.

Besides drawing power from his own Hungarian cinema, he portrays the classic human dramas of 1970s American film.

Produced by Kevin Turen, Ashley Levinson, and Aaron Ryder, the film was screen played by Kata Wéber and edited by Dávid Jancsó.

Born in Gödöllö, Hungary Kornél Mundruczó trained as an actor at the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest and later returned to study directing.

His feature films as director include This I Wish and Nothing More; Pleasant Days, which won the Silver Leopard at Locarno; Johanna; Delta, which won the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes; Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project; White God, which won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes; Jupiter’s Moon; and Pieces of a Woman. 

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)