Perinatal loss is one that occurs from week 22 of gestation to the first seven days of life. According to WHO figures, in 2019 47% of all deaths of children under 5 years old occurred during the neonatal period : approximately one third on the day of birth and about three quarters in the first week of life. And yet it is a topic that is rarely discussed.
However, a new film makes visible the pain of this terrible loss: ‘Fragments of a woman’, which captures and shows us the agonizing process of a couple who suffer the death of their baby during childbirth .
A heartbreaking loss
The film starring Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf, tells the story of Martha and Sean, a couple who were expecting their first baby with great enthusiasm, but when the moment of delivery comes something goes wrong and their son dies .
After the intense scenes of a childbirth captured in a very realistic way (something that is rarely seen in fiction), a path full of sadness, pain and anger begins , in which each one processes all these feelings as possible, while at the same time they are pressured to sue the birth attendant for medical negligence.
Throughout the months after this sad loss, we see Martha deal with her grief, while at the same time her relationship with Sean, who also suffers his loss as a father, becomes fragmented and her mother pressures her to handle her grief of a way that Martha is not comfortable with.
Premiere on Netflix
This film is the first starring role for Vanessa Kirby, who has given such a strong and heartbreaking performance that she won the best actress award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival a couple of months ago.
As announced at that time, the rights to this film were acquired by Netflix and now we can finally see the shocking trailer that certainly does not leave us indifferent to the story :
The film, which is based on a script by Kata Wéber, was directed by Hungarian film and theater director Kornél Mundruczó, while Martin Scorcese was executive producer. In addition to Vanessa Kirby and Shia LaBeouf, the cast is joined by Molly Parker as Eve Woodward, the midwife, and Ellen Burstyn, as the protagonist’s mother.
‘Fragmentos de una mujer’ will premiere worldwide on Netflix on January 7 .
In Babies and more | The emotional project that sensitizes and makes visible the pregnancy and neonatal losses, ‘Return to Zero’, a film about the death of a baby before birth and how its parents live it, “A hole has been created in my heart”: Chrissy Teigen opens up about losing her baby in emotional letter
