PIECES | Many Parts, One Picture

“There is a panoply of films purporting to capture the essence or reality of mental illness. Mental illness is frustratingly difficult to portray without agenda, prejudice or stigma. PIECES does this without the stereotypes, without the caricatures, but with raw and empathic humanity. PIECES sets out to destigmatize and highlight the eclectic strings of mental illness which runs through all families, and it presents this message with a striking visual style with that has great power and nuance.

The filmmakers purposefully avoid mentioning diagnosis or discussion of symptoms, this really seemed to give the film permission to focus on loss and the grittiness and granularity of our interpersonal lives with emotionally fractured frames, through community, bravery and resilience, and with all the imperfections of authentic love and hope.”

Nathan Gibson | Chief Psychiatrist, Western Australia

“I found PIECES to be very inspirational and its approach in trying to breakdown traditional stereotypes, particularly in the post Covid period as we have a surge for need in care is very timely and appropriate.”

Professor Patrick McGorry AO | MD, BS, PhD, FRANZCP, FAA, FASSA, FAHMS | 2010 Australian of the Year

“★★★★ Bold, powerful and intense. Pieces is pure cinematic perfection.”

Matthew Eeles | Cinema Australia

PIECES is a powerful drama, visually acute and personally confronting, dealing with family and social circumstances any of us could face. It doesn’t proselytize rather it lays out the territory, some of which is disturbing. But not all, it does show how the light can shine through even in the darkest of terrain. We do need to know about these things and Pieces helps us along the way. A must see and a must talk about afterwards.

Emeritus Professor Geoff Gallop | Former Premier of Western Australia

While I could wax lyrical about the outstanding artistic qualities of PIECES, I was especially moved by the film’s honouring of people like me. These were real characters, fully formed and human, with universal human struggles
and desires. They were greater than walking diagnoses, they were rich and multi-faceted, they were greater than objects of sympathy or inspiration fodder. They were human. Utterly human. I’m not sure how often I’ve seen that simple dignity in films about people like me.

Paul Werzel Montague | Mental Health Advocate and Educator PLEX

PIECES is a very personal project. My brother Daniel has lived with schizophrenia for 50 years. Daniel’s struggle has had both a profound and terrifying long-lasting effect on my family. My father Keith Wilson is Daniel’s carer. My father served as the Western Australian Health Minister from 1988-1992 and is a former chair of the Mental Health Council of Australia. Since his departure from politics, he has dedicated his life to mental health advocacy and Daniel’s health and wellbeing. I made PIECES to both honour Daniel’s struggle and continue the work of my father by highlighting the extraordinary efforts of mental health carers. Too often the invisible, unheard champions of this complex illness.

With a modest budget and facing the complications of COVID-19 lockdowns and border closures I had to devise a creative strategy that would allow the crew to shoot an ensemble drama quickly and cheaply without the resulting film looking cheap or hurried. I have long loved the energy and creative experimentation of the French New Wave, so I decided to embrace cinema verité. For this pseudo-documentary/improvised approach to work and for the audience to believe and empathise with the characters the performances needed to be as raw and as authentic as possible. To that end I encouraged our actors to shadow some of the real-life inspirations for their characters, to compile their own character biographies, and take part in rehearsal workshops prior to the shoot.

With the cast prepared we shot most of the film in five days with a two-camera set up. Using the behind the scenes making of a documentary as a present-day framing device we employed a non-linear narrative timeline in the edit for both dramatic effect, and to help convey the disorientation and confusion experienced by suffers of a mental illness. Heightened flashback sequences – a checkerboard of light and dark recollections that don’t sit easily in the present/real world, represent the memories (real or imagined) that affect the characters in the present. It is said that people living with mental illness see and hear the world differently, so I aimed to use our cameras (shot angles, heights and frame sizes), the editing and every aspect of the sound design to bring the character’s emotional inner life to the surface. To immerse the audience in their world.

With PIECES I want to demystified mental illness. I want to start a long overdue conversation that debunks the misconceptions and negative stereotypes that complicate and amplify the stigma, discrimination, and isolation experienced by people afflicted with a mental health illness. Without sugar-coating the facts, PIECES is ultimately a redemptive and hopeful story. Because while humanity will never be totally free of suffering, there is beauty and purpose for every single one of us.

Martin Wilson – Director