Pieces of Her

2022 - 3 - 4

Toni Collette

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Los Angeles Times"

'Pieces of Her' on Netflix: a tidy, effective weekend binge (Los Angeles Times)

Starring Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote, the eight-part series is not without its flaws, but all the twists and turns leave little time to notice.

Although there are more than enough questions to draw you to the end — and there is a certain amount of just getting to the end involved in any eight-hour mystery — what makes “Pieces of Her” something better than just a diverting entertainment are the central performances and the mother-daughter story that exists both within and without the thriller. (There is always the fallback, of course, that you just can’t tell about people.) Also, if you are going to teach someone to shoot a pistol, lining up bottles on the roof of a car seems an imprudent way to do it. (Apocalyptic militancy, from wherever it comes, is often quixotic, but these people are supposed to be at least a little smart.) At the same time, the series does a fair job of distracting you from such thoughts while events are in play, as on a roller coaster where you are too busy screaming to consider its construction. (Jessica Barden does nice work as Laura’s younger self, while resembling Collette not at all.) Though necessary to explain the present action, and the site of the series’ biggest revelations, these scenes can feel a little theatrical, a costume drama with the emphasis on costume and remote from the more involving action of the present. I won’t go into much detail about the nuts and bolts of the story, except to say that it involves a lot of familiar elements — corporate malfeasance, a political candidate, a powerful family, a suitcase full of money, fake drivers licenses, assorted hired thugs and, in flashbacks, of which there are many, a collection of full-service leftist radicals I associate more with the late 1960s and ’70s than the ’80s. “If someone threatens your child you do anything to protect them; something just kicks in,” she will tell a seemingly skeptical police detective, which is the point of the story but also just a fragment of the Whole Truth. For as the incident becomes national news, it quickly grows clear to the viewer that Laura has been hiding out and that this bit of unwanted publicity has put her, and Andy, in danger.

New Thriller On Netflix Starring Toni Collette (unknown)

New 8-part series on Netflix starring Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote, jumping to the second place of Netflix's Top 10 Shows, a day after its release in ...

Collette and Heathcote perfectly capture the complex relationship the mother and daughter have, further complicated by what Andy discovers about her mother's past. Her past is portrayed as fraught with overbearing male figures—first her possessive father (played by Terry O'Quinn), then the charismatic leader of an anarchist group, named Nick Harp (played by Joe Dempsie). The series reveals Laura's past bit by bit, as Andy is discovering everything, the full picture of which is only truly complete with the very last few minutes of the entire series. But when her mother tells her to flee with a precise itinerary to follow, Andy is left wondering who her mother truly is. At its core, this is a story about a relationship between a mother and her daughter. Based on Karin Slaughter's 2018 novel, Pieces of Her is an eight-part series adaptation about a mother-daughter relationship and the secrets we keep from those closest to us. While Laura, a speech therapist, and Andy, an insecure 911 police dispatcher, are out for lunch, the diner is attacked by a crazy young man who begins by shooting his ex-girlfriend and her mother before turning to the rest of the patrons.

'Pieces of Her' Ending, & Laura's Crimes, Explained: Why Did Jane Queller Become Laura? (unknown)

'Pieces of Her' Plot Summary ... Laura Oliver (Toni Collette) is a divorced mother who lives with her only daughter, Andrea “Andy” (Bella Heathcote), in Belle ...

She became a state witness and testified that Nick gave Grace Juno the gun from which she shot Martin, when in fact, it was Jane who manipulated Juno. And it was probably the same gun that was given to Jane by Nick while he was teaching her to shoot. By the end of “Pieces of Her,” Andy had probably found all the missing puzzles about her mother’s dark past and, to some length, had a pretty clear picture of what her mother did and, most importantly, why she did it. She was stuck between Martin and Nick. Martin even tried to drug her and kill her child, and wanted to start over with her, which is probably when Jane decided to put an end to it. Jane wanted to put an end to everything, so she followed Nick into the woods and pointed a gun at him. Even in the end, Nick stressed the fact that he didn’t put the gun in Grace Juno’s purse from which she killed Martin Queller, as their plan was never to kill anyone but to humiliate them. In the final confrontation scene in the cabin, Andy tried to save Jane from a ruthless Nick, and during the tussle, the cabin caught fire, which burnt the cash along with the tape. It can also be speculated that Nick killed Clara, probably to get the whereabouts of Jane and Andy, which she might have refused to share. “Pieces of Her” moves back and forth in time to help the audience and Andy understand her mother’s intentions and the actions she took in her life that resulted in the present she is living in. A sense of danger and a threat to Andy’s life compelled Jane/Laura to contact Nick, who was living as a fugitive. At this point, Jasper tried to convince her to put all the blame on Andrew and Nick and come out clean, but Jane decided not to. As soon as she heard the tape and found out about Nick’s lies, she decided to leave him and take Andrew to the hospital, but Nick stopped her. She sends a text to 911 and hits the assassin with a furniture piece, and knocks him down, believing that she killed him.

‘Pieces of Her’ Ending Explained (unknown)

Netflix's 'Pieces of Her' ending explained: did Toni Collette's Jane kill her father Martin Queller? Or was it Nick and Jasper?

When Jane is seen copying a move she learned from Nick to save Andy in the present day, her “heroic” act blows her cover and draws Nick’s operatives her way. Jane’s actions put the organization in danger and spark a series of events that lead to Andrew’s death, the academic’s death, and her decision to betray Nick. A pregnant Jane goes to the police after the death of her brother Andrew and offers to testify against Nick in exchange for a lightened sentence. Nick is never caught, but Jane is able to restart her life with Andy a few years later with a new name. Pieces of Her was created by Charlotte Stoudt and is based on Karin Slaughter’s best-selling novel of the same name. Andy embarks on a wild cross-country journey to figure out who her mother really is and finds herself solving a murder mystery in the process.

'Pieces of Her' assembles a Netflix mystery around Toni Collette's mom with a past (unknown)

"Pieces of Her" assembles another one of those small-boned thrillers that Netflix serves up in abundance, teasing out a fairly disposable mystery just good ...

WarnerMedia uses data to improve and analyze its functionality and to tailor products, services, ads, and offers to your interests. Andy is also a problematic character who seems too over her head to effectively deal with everything thrown at her, while those around her, including her former stepfather (Omari Hardwick), all seem to know a lot more than they're letting on.With her steely disposition and haunted stare, Collette (whose busy Netflix resume includes "Unbelievable" and "Wanderlust") helps elevate things to a degree as Laura, though she's absent for large chunks of time as the story unwinds Andy's current efforts while flashing back to Laura's history.Netflix nevertheless seems to get considerable mileage out of these kind of "You might like" series, which plant enough of a hook to justify the relatively modest (in this case, eight-episode) commitment." 'Pieces of Her' assembles a Netflix mystery around Toni Collette's mom with a pastToni Collette and Bella Heathcote in the thriller 'Pieces of Her.'"Pieces of Her" assembles another one of those small-boned thrillers that Netflix serves up in abundance, teasing out a fairly disposable mystery just good enough to get you to the end.

A skimpy plot undercuts Toni Collette's stirring work in Pieces Of Her (unknown)

Based on a novel by Karin Slaughter, Netflix's Pieces Of Her is a no-frills thriller.

Despite its foreseeable conclusion, Pieces Of Her is still a pleasant thriller, especially due to Collette and Heathcote’s work. Pieces Of Her spends a lot of time building up to the obvious final reveal, but the payoff doesn’t remotely live up to expectations. As she depicts Laura’s undoing, Barden is limited to being mostly expressionless, stuck in the anticipatory past and therefore more boring of the two storylines. It’s as much a serious family drama as it is a no-frills thriller. To figure out why she has to relinquish the life she knew, Andy begins to investigate Laura’s origins. Pieces Of Her sits firmly in this serviceable limbo.

Netflix’s ‘Pieces of Her’ doesn’t blindly follow the book. Author Karin Slaughter couldn’t be happier. (unknown)

Netflix's "Pieces of Her," starring Toni Colette and Bella Heathcote, departs regularly from the source material, but the spirit of the novel remains ...

You know, in your 20s, you’re just kind of freaked out and you’re like, “Oh my God, I’m going to have to be an adult someday,” and then in your 30s, you’re like, “This is the day. I’ve got to start being an adult: I’ve got to work out, I’ve got to sleep.” And in your 40s, you’re like … “If I make it through the day and no one dies, I’m winning.” And Andy is a millennial — so let’s be honest, your 20s are really your 30s now if you’re a millennial — and trying to figure out who she was and what to do with her life. But it was really important to keep the spirit of the characters and the emotional story between the mother and daughter, because that’s the real heart of the book for me. Kind of weirdly the best thing that happens to her is she finds out that her mother was in a homicidal cult. it was mostly that a lot of my readers I’ve had from the first book, and I feel a real responsibility toward them and I want them to love it because I just think it’s my job to be the gatekeeper for these stories and I don’t want to disappoint them. And you know, there are hundreds of people on set for this thing that was in my head while I was in my pajamas writing it a few years ago. Let’s be honest, this is a story about a mother and daughter, and a lot of guys aren’t into stories about mothers and daughters. I mean, even back to when she was a young woman inside her family, she was a liar. So both of us were looking up at all these big guys who were wrangling all this stuff on the set, but they were using Matchbox cars on a table to show where the cars went. I was more involved on being a resource for, “Why did this character do this?” Or, “What were you thinking when this happened?” Or “What was your motivation?” And I got to read scripts and I got to be on set for one day. Because it’s a moist heat?” And I said, “Well, not if your skin is on fire.” That was a huge relief for the author, whose nervousness over the show could be alleviated only by hours on her treadmill.