When confronted by a man murdering women in a restaurant, the protagonist of "Pieces of Her" does something unexpected. Stabbed by the killer as she tries to intervene, to protect her grown daughter, Andy (Bella Heathcote), the woman, Laura (Toni Collette), does not freeze. Nor does she flee when faced with danger. Or break down in fear as she's horribly injured by the killer. In a move that goes viral, thanks to a recording phone, Laura turns her hand around, knife still poking out of it, and slices the killer's neck, ending his rampage.
With a move like that, you're apt to make the nightly news. Laura's heroic action seems destined to disrupt her life, perhaps bringing unwanted attention, or drawing her old life back in, as happens to the character of Tom Stall in David Cronenberg's stunner "A History of Violence."
