The prospect of going to the movies to specifically seek out a “bad time” might seem foreign to some. But some directors make their living off of tackling uncomfortable, unpleasant, or downright confusing ideas on the big screen. Lynne Ramsay (“We Need to Talk About Kevin,” “You Were Never Really Here”) is one of those directors, and she’s returned with a new project featuring two of cinemas most flexible actors and source material that’s been described simply as “uncomfortable.” It’s an interesting one to say the least.
Based on the 2012 Spanish novel by Ariana Harwicz, “Die My Love” follows Grace, played by Jennifer Lawrence (“The Hunger Games,” “No Hard Feelings”), and Jackson, played by Robert Pattinson (“Twilight,” “The Batman”). They’ve just moved into a house in the countryside and Jackson is off every day working in the city, leaving Grace at home alone with their new baby. As the days grow longer, Grace finds herself slipping into madness, injuring herself around the house, and slowly dipping more and more into post-partum depression, much to the fear of Jackson.
How to describe this film is as much a question as what actually happens in this film, as much of the time it borders on being indescribable in its events and the order in which they appear. Co-writers Ramsay, Enda Walsh (“Hunger,” “The House (2022)”), and Alice Birch (“Dead Ringers,” “Normal People”) craft a film that feels more like a series of segments in Grace’s larger journey into madness than a strictly coherent three-act structured film. It’s a film that coasts along on vibes and energy rather than any narrative structure, and while your mileage may vary with that kind of approach, it’s nevertheless effective in evoking this very specific emotional panic.
This is Lawrence’s film, no doubt about it, and she carries the entire thing from start to finish. It's the sort of project most actors would die to get a hold off, taking material that’s this elaborate and metaphorical and running away with it. Regardless of your opinion of the rest of the film, her performance is undeniably fantastic. Pattinson gets just as much to sink his teeth into, delivering a wild and crazed performance to match hers. Given that the film is entirely her tale, he doesn’t get as much to play with, but he’s great regardless and any scene where they’re at each other's throats is a great time.
Meanwhile, anyone outside of Lawrence and Pattinson gets a lot less to work with. Sissy Spaeck (“Badlands,” “Carrie (1976)”) has a fun, but all to brief role as Jackson’s mother Pam. She lights up the screen when she appears, adding an older female perspective to Grace’s turmoil, but nothing substantial as a character. LaKeith Stanfield (“Sorry to Bother You,” “Atlanta”) pops up for what charitably might be two lines and 5 minutes of screentime as a pseud-imaginary affair for Grace named Karl, and the film simply wastes him. Nick Nolte (“48 Hrs,” “The Prince of Tides”) appears briefly as well as Harry, Jackson’s elderly father who somehow manages to deliver great warmth and humor despite being just as brief as Stanfield, if not moreso.
There is clearly a goal in the visuals, editing, and cinematography to evoke the kind of unhinged, slowly escalating madness that Grace is going through but in film form. Large swaths of the film have little to no dialogue and the musical score ratchets up at random points mixed in with needle drops from everything from “Love Me Tender” to “Hey Mickey” to “Souljacker Part 1.” Cinematographer Seamus McGarvey (“Atonement,” “Anna Karenina”) crafts a look that somehow makes the surrounding forest and open house claustrophobic, draped in some positively gorgeous nighttime photography. The musical score composed by George Vjestica (“The Sky Above Zenica”), Raife Burchell, and Ramsay is deeply unsettling, when it does appear, while also maintaining a playfulness purposefully absent in the rest of the film.
Ramsay’s vision for this film is a clear and deliberate one; it's just that said vision is one meant to evoke specific feelings and interpretations rather than present a concise narrative structure. It’s a viewing experience that feels purposeful even in the moments it becomes challenging to parse. The ending in particular is a perfect example of the film’s daring visual and metaphorical goals while also settling into a very specific vibe and refusing to explain itself further. While not so much the sort of “art house” film shown in museums, it's definitely not a mainstream hit and that should be noted for any viewer going in blind.
“Die My Love” certainly accomplishes its goals of maintaining a specific vibe somewhere between despair and feminist rage, without ever tipping its hand to explain what it's all specifically “about.” Lawrence and Pattinson run away with their roles, helping to ground the project in their excellent performances, even amongst a mostly wasted supporting cast. It's hard to say that anything in this film is “bad” or didn’t accomplish exactly what Lynne Ramsay set out to do. It’s just hard to say that it’s a good recommendation for anyone who would normally turn their nose away at a film like this. If you can get on its wavelength though, it’s a hell of an entertaining piece of madness. 3.5/5