Birth, death, child, mother, family... Pieces of a woman is a modern tragedy. A story—the loss of a newborn baby—which isn't exceptional in and of itself, but which in the telling becomes a special case. In the heart of the home where the girls grew up, the family sits at the table. The realism, familiar in its minutest details, hides underlying tensions that transform this normal Sunday lunch into a struggle. The struggle of a young woman who has to defend her most personal pain against her family's opinion and against the conventions they would have her follow in this ordeal she experiences in her own way. Can the loss of a child, a trauma as much personal as familial, lead to a clash of generations? How can one experience one's mourning when it is felt differently not only by one's loved ones but by society as a whole? Kornél Mundruczó doesn't judge nor does he resort to ironic detachment, choosing instead to present the drama's actions and actors as a neutral observer. Tackling a taboo subject in Eastern Europe, the Hungarian director, surrounded by Polish actors, shines a light on the qualities and strengths as much as on the flaws and weaknesses of men and women, exacerbated by a crisis situation. No one's good or wicked, the tragic situation turns the characters alternatively into heroes or antiheroes, cowards or champions. Humanity as it tries to survive the unspeakable.
Distribution
With Dobromir Dymecki, Monika Frajczyk, Magdalena Kuta, Sebastian Pawlak, Marta Scislowicz, Justyna Wasilewska, Agnieszka Zulewska
Text Kata Wéber
Translation Jolanta Jarmolowicz
Direction Kornél Mundruczó
Dramaturgy Soma Boronkay
Music Asher Goldschmidt
Stage design, costumes Monika Pormale
Lights Paulina Góral
Assistant direction Karolina Gebska
Translation Patrycja Paszt
Production
Production TR Warszawa
With the help of Institut Balassi (Warsaw)