Written by: Enda Walsh, Lynne Ramsay, Alice Birch
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, LaKeith Stanfield, Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek
Rating: [2.5/5]
Not all films seek to disguise exactly what they seek to convey to their audience. Subtlety, while nice at times, does not make for a great film, but at times a distinct level of bluntness can drag down a film to the point where it proves tiresome to watch. That’s ultimately where I found myself with Die My Love, where it seeks to communicate a particular message, and while it succeeds, the manner of this success felt unbearable to watch.
After inheriting a house from his uncle out in the country, Jackson (Robert Pattinson) and his pregnant girlfriend, Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) move in. While they initially acclimate to this new lifestyle after urban living, shortly after Grace gives birth to their child, she begins to sink from the loneliness and struggles of motherhood. This begins to drive a wedge between them as Grace’s actions continue to escalate in their intensity.
The return of Lynne Ramsay to feature filmmaking has been long-awaited by me and many others. A director who always delivers movies filled to the brim with intensity that will inevitably cause discomfort in audience members. You simply cannot make a film centered on a mother reckoning with the aftermath of her son conducting a school shooting in We Need to Talk About Kevin without causing unease for the audience. It’s been far too long since her latest film, You Were Never Really Here, and the prospect of her working with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson raised the already sky-high expectations for the final outcome of this film. Unfortunately, it mostly felt like a chore to sit through.
Now, I will be the first one to raise my hand and admit that perhaps this lies in my lack of connectivity to the topic at hand. Ramsay adapts a book focusing on the mental and physical anguish of postpartum depression. A reality I will never experience on my own, but as much as this film clearly conveys this particular message as Grace continues down this dangerous spiral, the majority of the criticism for this movie does not necessarily lie in the message but rather in its presentation.
This particular spiral centers primarily on Grace becoming more and more erratic as the film goes along. When watching how events transpire, you cannot necessarily blame her when, in a period of time where she needs support, Jackson does not deliver in either the big or small moments. From the fact she wants a cat and he brings a dog home and the large stretches of time she must spend home alone with the baby. All of this demonstrates a level of neglect that for some new mothers would not feel like the end of the world, but for a woman suffering this particular affliction, it only highlights the issue at hand. Where the film loses me mostly centers on the presentation of this descent, and for as much as I want to avoid the elephant in the room, it all comes to Jennifer Lawrence’s performance.
Combining the prowess of Lynne Ramsay and Jennifer Lawrence promised something special but it mostly produced the biggest deterrent to me connecting with the film. Lawrence’s outright dedication to committing to what the role called for deserves some commendation, but one can only watch so many scenes of her crawling on the floor, jumping on Pattinson, and walking around with a knife. These scenes did not necessarily bring anything meaningful to the story but rather felt like acting exercises on a tireless repeat and continually had me lose interest in whatever it sought to convey. It may work for some, but it completely took away from any enjoyment the film sought to produce.
Not the return I would have wanted for Lynne Ramsay, but I appreciate the effort by her as she delivers on the hallmarks we know and love her for. I could never look away from what transpired on screen, but that does not mean it all necessarily worked. The film contains a cogent message that it executes in a fairly clear manner, but as a project as a whole, it simply felt tiring to watch. Films can evoke many feelings from audience members, and Ramsay knows how to make audiences uncomfortable, but the only discomfort this film produced lied more in the tediousness of the execution.
Films with Josh 
