Netflix's Pieces of Her struggles to locate a beating human heart at the center of its mystery

The Hollywood Reporter

The eight-episode thriller starring Toni Collette and Bella Heathcote, adapted by Charlotte Stoudt based on Karin Slaughter's novel of the same name, "starts by setting the scene in quick, easily legible strokes: the sleepy seaside town, the unassuming middle-aged mom, the aimless artist daughter, the loving but occasionally touchy relationship between them," says Angie Han. "The shooting that precipitates the narrative’s tangled series of events is appropriately shocking and horrifying, and the questions that follow raise an uneasy tone. Why is Laura so upset to be seen on TV in news reports about the incident? Why is she suddenly so insistent on distancing herself from her daughter? What doesn’t Andy know about her own family? As the threats Laura has anticipated draw closer, Andy goes on the run, first toward safety, and then toward the truths her mother has worked so hard to hide from her."

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• Collette admits being "bloody exhausted" at the end of filming: "I got on a plane to go do another job and I just remember feeling like, 'Oh, I feel like a zombie here,'" she says. "Thankfully, I had some time to catch up with myself before I started on the next one, but it was just intense. And I mean, that's part of the allure of it too, the story is just so intriguing and it really is honestly very thrilling and you just cannot see the twists coming — and it's all the things that make it very entertaining that also were very difficult for me personally. (Laughs.)"