Lynne Ramsay’s latest is a feverish take on motherhood and madness
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
After the allegorical horror that was Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” (2017), Academy Award winner Jennifer Lawrence returns to the motherhood theme (Can she stop now?) with “Die My Love,” a troubled and troubling portrait of a young mother suffering from postpartum depression (we guess).
It begins with Grace (Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson) opening a house in the woods (press materials mention we are in Montana, although no one in the film confirms this, and the film was shot in Canada), where Grace will have a room of her own to write. Jackson will…well, we never find out what dullard Jackson does. These filmmakers, including director and co-writer Lynne Ramsay, are Brits, and work is not something one speaks about. The opening shots of the small country house feature multiple frames within frames, suggesting a story with a Matryoshka doll-like element.
The film is based on the 2012 novel “Die, My Love” by Argentine writer Ariana Harwicz. Adapted by Ramsay, Enda Walsh of the great Cillian Murphy drama “Small Things Like These” (2024) and Alice Birch (“Lady Macbeth”), “Die My Love” bounces back and forth in time from the marriage of Grace and Jackson in Montana to the ambiguous end of the action when their baby is about one.
It opens with that intricate framing shot of the interior of the leaves-strewn house, where the couple will live. There is nudity, sex and suddenly Grace is crawling along the ground outside the home, swinging at the flowery tops of weeds with a big kitchen knife. A baby, the couple’s unnamed son, sits in his car seat on the front porch nearby. In the background, we hear the first of many vintage earworms, in this case, the Chipmunks’ parody of “Let’s Twist Again.” Lying on the ground, Grace slips a hand down her shorts. Isn’t she supposed to be writing? One could argue it’s the same thing.
Grace is the new mother, suffering from postpartum depression, although no one in the film says so. In fact, watching “Die My Love” will not give you any insight into the condition, only visions of the chaos and terrible toll it takes. Grace wanders around the house after a midnight breastfeeding, her breast still bared, her big mane of blonde hair swinging. Kentucky-born Lawrence, who broke out in the lead in “Winter’s Bone” (2010), has been nominated for four Academy Awards, winning one (“Silver Linings Playbook”). She is the most popular woman actor of her generation. But even she can make a regrettable choice (Remember “Passengers”?). “Die My Love” teams her with ”Twilight”-launched Pattinson, who, as much as we may like him, has been even more uneven in his choices.
“Die My Love” features too much dancing that gets out of control, a lusty amount of naked lovemaking, and too many scenes in which Grace just… loses… it. At a dinner party, we learn that Jackson’s mom is none other than Carrie herself, Sissy Spacek, and that a doddering Nick Nolte is his father.
Grace comes across a wild horse in the woods, stamping its hoof. Is this the nightmare that she has been riding? There are also (imaginary?) shots of Grace making love with a mysterious Black motorcyclist (Is that you, Lakeith Stanfield? Underused, again?). We can tell it’s a flashback if Grace is heavily pregnant and not entirely out of her mind. Grace goes on long walks on roads framed by a flat horizon, pushing her unnamed baby in his stroller.
I am a big fan of Scotswoman Ramsay’s “Ratcatcher” (1999), “Morvern Caller” (2002) and “You Were Never Really Here” (2017), but not this. Listen to Eric Clapton play “Crossroads” from the 1966 album by Cream. Jackson runs into a horse (Is it you, nightmare?) in his SUV, leaving the vehicle banged up and bloodied, and the horse injured but untreated and unreported. Jackass Jackson then adopts a whimpering dog that will not stop making noise. Holy (not the right word), Kristi Noem, Grace reaches for the Winchester. I’m trying to explain what a (sometimes entertaining and crazy) mess “Die My Love” is. The writers fail to develop the characters or their circumstances beyond the bare bones. Why do I care about Grace and Jackson and their kid? How many times can I watch Lawrence bloodily bonk her head on a mirror or throw herself through a glass door? This is psychiatric misery porn. Ramsay herself nicely sings Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” over the end credits.
‘Die My Love’
Rating: R for sexual content, graphic nudity, language, and some violent content.
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Writers: Ramsay, Enda Walsh, Alice Birth, Ariana Harwicz
Running time: 118 minutes
Where to watch: In theaters
Grade: C+
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