English Abstract

At the end of Fragments of a Woman I asked myself: what did the director Kornél Mundruczó and his wife, the screenwriter Kata Weber, set out to tell me about with this film? A story about the effects of loss and the mechanisms of grief, among other topics?

After its gimmicky and (too) long opening sequence in real time, the problem with this film is that it fails to adequately translate all its topics and conflicts in dramatic terms through characters and a story that evolve and move and whose elements are Assemble and complement. Furthermore, the fragmentary structure of the story, which uses ellipsis in a systematic way, does not contribute to the viewer's connection either; hence, in part, the name "Fragments." Not even the performances (so “Oscar-winning”) were outstanding to me.

English Review

This time, instead of starting with a plot review, I must ask myself, what did director Kornél Mundruczó and his wife, screenwriter Kata Weber, set out to tell me with this film?

One could answer: tell us a story about the effects of loss in sharpening the contrasts of a marriage, about denial as a defense mechanism, about mourning as a command or imposition, about the ethics of reparation, about class differences on a couple, on the new obstetric fashions, on manipulative mothers, on women and their pregnant bodies, on the Judeo-Christian guilt ... all as a correlate of a (too) long and effective opening scene (which will generate rivers of admiration in part of the public) filmed in sequence shot and that if it aspires to hit the viewer, it will cause their interest in the rest of the story to wane somewhat in those who are affected by its (supposed) harshness.

The problem with this film is that it fails to adequately translate all these topics and conflicts (if it is all of them) in dramatic terms through characters and a story that evolve and move and whose elements are assembled and complemented. Furthermore, the fragmentary structure of the story, which uses ellipsis in a systematic way, does not contribute to the viewer's connection either; hence, in part, the name "Fragments." Even the performances were not outstanding to me.

Personally, then, I have found it impossible to empathize with her characters, except for a few moments with the protagonist (Vanessa Kirby) and to detest her partner a bit (the overactive Shia LaBoeuf)