Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to the film “Pieces of a Woman,” which premiered this year at the Venice Film Festival.
The film stars actress Vanessa Kirby, who was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at Venice on Saturday, and Shia LaBeouf, who plays her husband.
Terms of the deal we’re not disclosed, and Netflix has not indicated when it will be released.
Directed by Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó and written by Kata Wéber, “Pieces of a Woman” follows a young mother (Kirby) who suffers a tragedy that leads to a year-long mourning period affecting everyone in her life.
In addition to Kirby and LaBeouf, “Pieces of a Woman” stars Ellen Burstyn, Jimmie Falls, Molly Parker, Benny Safdie and Sarah Snook. It also features comedian Iliza Shlesinger, who made her acting debut in 2013 and recently played Cissy Davis in Mark Wahlberg’s recent (and first) Netflix film, “Spenser Confidential.”
“Pieces of a Woman” is co-executive produced by several producers including Martin Scorsese, Viktoria Petranyi, Sam Levinson, and Suarj Maraboyina for Creative Wealth Media and BRON Studios.
“As a European filmmaker, I couldn’t be more excited and appreciative of finding my home for this film with Netflix,” Mundruczó said in a statement. “Their taste in independent cinema feels like the United Artists of the 1970s… the true champions of filmmakers and original voices for today.”
“It’s lucky to see a movie that takes you by surprise (and) it’s a privilege to help it find the wide audience it deserves,” Scorcese said in a statement. “I was emotionally invested in it from the first scene, and the experience only intensified as I watched.”
Scorcese went on to add, “you feel as if you’ve been dropped into the vortex of a family crisis and moral conflict with all its nuances, drawn out with care and compassion but without judgement. Kornél Mundruczó has a fluid, immersive style with the camera that makes it hard to look away, and impossible not to care.”