‘Die My Love’ Review

Lynne Ramsay’s ‘Die My Love’ is difficult by design, in both its form and its subject matter, and will consequently frustrate audiences looking for a more clearcut narrative. But for those who persevere, ‘Die My Love’ will reward viewers with some of the best performances of the year delivering some of the most heart-wrenching drama imaginable, even if the film as a whole, being a little too long, a little too repetitive, will wear you down.

‘Die My Love’ follows Grace and Jackson (Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, respectively), as they move out into the country and have a baby together. As the realities of parenthood settle in, their relationship suffers and Grace deals with the isolation and hardship of being a stay at home mom while Jackson is on the road for work. With Grace’s mental health deteriorating, everybody in her life tries to help her in all the ways they know how, hoping to stave off disaster.

Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson bring an authentic chemistry to their relationship, creating a couple that I was invested in throughout even as Lynne Ramsay’s filmmaking seems to keep the viewer at arm’s length. Lawrence’s performance specifically will garner the bulk of the critical acclaim, and deservedly so. This is an actress who is willing to take big swings, delivering a physical and emotional character who struggles to handle her personal traumas as she is now expected to raise a newborn virtually alone. So many scenes fixate on Lawrence’s face, as she cycles through different reactions as if reminding herself what it’s like to feel emotions again. Oftentimes it feels like the screenplay must just say “Jennifer Lawrence does things in a room”, as so many of her outbursts feel like a form of traumatic improv.

While Lawrence is a powerhouse, she is supported by equally committed and moving performances from the rest of the cast. As her aloof partner, Pattinson is frustrating even as he brings charm and warmth to some scenes, enough love to explain the draw of this relationship. Jackson’s parents are played by Sissy Spacek and Nick Nolte, who layer in their characters’ personal anguish even as they try to be supportive and encouraging to Grace, providing a model relationship that is unhealthy in its own peculiar ways.

Ramsay’s film is a tough one to digest, with intentional ambiguity as to what’s real and what’s not, what is Grace actually going through versus what is in her imagination, and how both realities affect her depression. Not knowing what’s real is very clearly a choice, meant to reflect Grace’s increasingly fractured mind as she struggles with Postpartum depression, but it’s a choice that adds to the runtime without always adding to the emotional journey on screen. Much of the film is repeating variations on the same scene, as Grace’s emotional silo results in her acting aberrantly. And again, this is a storytelling choice, to put the viewer inside Grace’s monotony that exacerbates her decline, and yet that very monotony often makes the movie repetitive to the point of dullness.

Even as it suffers from tiring flights of pretension, Lynne Ramsay’s ‘Die My Love’ is admirable in its artistic ambition, an impressive achievement in genre defiance. There are jump scares, there is human drama, there is tender romance, allowing Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson to chew scenery and show their remarkable range. While the flaws in their relationship are made abundantly clear, there are scenes of such sweetness, like them singing a duet on a roadtrip, that makes it hard to give up on them, making the dramatic impact of their crumbling love all the more tragic.

Die My Love
Rated R for sexual content, graphic nudity, language, and some violent content.
Running Time: 1 hour and 58 minutes

Director Lynne Ramsay
Writers Enda Walsh, Lynne Ramsay, Alice Birch
Stars Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, LaKeith Stanfield, Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek
Rating R
Running Time 118 Minutes
Genres Drama, Thriller