Although the exact plot in Pieces of a Woman isn't based wholly on one true story, there are aspects of Martha and Sean’s pain of their loss that writer Kata Wéber wrote with her own experiences in mind. In real life, Kata and her partner, Pieces of a Woman director Kornél Mundruczó suffered a loss of their own. And, as Kata told The Hollywood Reporter, the movie allowed her to explain the depth of their pain while also understanding the similar struggles of other women.

"It may sound crazy because there are so many connections in the film with our lives, with my life and my family story, but when I started to work with the script, it was not very obvious that it is going to be my emotional journey, or that it is going to be something so personal," Kata said. "Initially, I wanted to depict a conflict, and I wanted to discuss a taboo, but the personal part was a little bit hidden, hidden from me, too."

The legal battle depicted in the movie is also inspired by a real-life Hungarian case in which a home birth advocate was found guilty of negligence in multiple home births wherein newborn babies died. But, overall, the story within the movie is fictional, if inspired by very real struggles.

Pieces of a Woman is now streaming on Netflix.