PIECE OF MY HEART (Le Cours de ta vie)
New Zealand / 2009 / 90 min / DCP / Comedy drama

Directed by Fiona Samuel

Script : Fiona Samuel, Renée Taylor
Editing : Margot Francis
Music : Don McGlashan, Edmund McWilliams
Production : Michele Fantl

Cast : Annie Whittle, Rena Owen, Emily Barclay, Keisha Castle-Hughes, John Bach

Introduced by Dr Marine Berthiot & Dr Nelly Gillet(Adapters)

Piece Of My Heart is a drama about reconciliation. Reconciliation between the present and the past, between a mother and her child, between a husband and a wife. Flora Thornley has been in hiding for most of her life. In 1968 when she was 17, Flora had a daughter and gave her up for adoption. She has never told anyone, including her husband and their two adult children. But now, she has contacted her daughter for the first time and gets a brutal rejection letter in reply. A strong, moving and appealing film on the delicate and touching subject of young mothers constrained to abandon their child, a subject that echoes the Dardenne brothers’ film Young Mothers.

Fiona Samuel

Fiona Samuel is an award-winning writer and director from Aotearoa New Zealand. Her body of work puts the female experience front and centre in dramas like PIECE OF MY HEART about teenage mothers and forced adoption in ‘60s New Zealand; BLISS - THE BEGINNING OF KATHERINE MANSFIELD about the scandalous gap year that launched Mansfield’s writing career and CONSENT, the true story of an epic fight for justice after a young woman accused three senior policemen of rape. Fiona Samuel works across theatre, television and film, often focusing on complex and controversial stories taken from real life. Her most recent film, PIKE RIVER directed by Robert Sarkies starring Melanie Lynskey and Robyn Malcolm is currently streaming on Prime Video. Fiona is presently working in France as the 2026 Katherine Mansfield Menton Fellow.

Adaptation Dr Marine Berthiot (Chercheuse en postdoctorat MSCA, Université de Galway), Dr Nelly Gillet (laboratoire FORELLIS - université de Poitiers) : This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101204833 – Magdalene Trauma, and from the SRIS (Strategic Research Incentivisation Scheme) for the project “A Conversation with Magdalene Artists from Aotearoa New Zealand”. The screening of Piece of My Heart is made possible thanks to material preserved and made available by Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.