Die My Love: The BRWC Review. By George & Josh Bate

Lynne Ramsay has cultivated a reputation for films that are as expertly crafted as they are difficult to stomach. Without exception, her filmography features subject matters, characters, and imagery that push the boundaries of comfort in uncompromising fashion, rendering Ramsay a must-watch, albeit divisive, director. Her latest effort, Die My Love, is no exception to this track record, although its bleak, tedious, and even grueling nature make it a rare misfire for the filmmaker.

Based on Ariana Harwicz’s novel Die, My Love, Ramsay’s new film follows Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson), a young couple who move from New York City to an old family house deep in the country. As the couple settles in and welcomes a baby boy soon after, Grace’s mental health unravels, pushing her once strong relationship with Jackson to its limits.

Crowd-pleasing and enjoyable aren’t two terms that typically come to mind when describing a Lynne Ramsay film, but they are particularly ill-suited to describe Die My Love. Encased in an almost claustrophobic 1.33:1 Academy aspect ratio, Ramsay’s film begins much like a horror film, not dissimilar from The Amityville Horror. A bright and deeply-in-love couple relocate to a new home, only to discover that terrifying events await. It’s a slow beginning that already begins to test the patience of its audience, but immediately the viewer’s eye is drawn to Jennifer Lawrence and, for the remaining two hours or so, finds it rarely going astray.

From the get-go, there’s something unusual yet endearing about Lawrence’s Grace. She is playful, pulling funny faces, putting on strange voices, and crawling around the house and the garden like a wild animal. Pattinson’s Jackson, at least initially, meets Grace’s oddities with similarly weird behaviors. Although initially off-putting, the bizarre behaviors of Grace and Jackson soon become somewhat touching as it is clear they are evidence of a couple so in love that they are free of all inhibition. Over the course of the film, however, as Grace’s mental health slowly deteriorates, so do her playful behaviors and attitude.

Die My Love is not a horror movie, at least in the traditional sense, although watching Grace’s deterioration proves disturbing. Ramsay implies, at least initially, that Grace’s mental health difficulties spawn from post-partum depression, but, through various flashbacks, the broader trajectory of Grace’s mental health becomes clearer and suggests issues are deeper rooted than initially thought. Ramsay opts for a less conventional portrayal of post-partum depression as she chooses to never have Grace overtly explain just why her mood is so low and behaviors so erratic, which results in a more raw and unflinching depiction of mental health issues.

Despite its admirable rawness, however, Die My Love tests your patience with its repetitive and predictable narrative. Every scene, many of which are shot in a barely visible night by cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, are dedicated to showing Grace’s ever-declining mental state. In doing so, the film quickly adopts the tediousness and frustration that our lead character experiences, creating a unique, albeit rather unenjoyable, parallel experience between viewer and character. At its best moments, Die My Love is tedious, but, at its worst, the film is grueling, difficult to watch, and even put us in a bad mood, once again paralleling Grace’s deteriorating health.

With what is ultimately the film’s saving grace, Die My Love latches onto a thread of interest with moral questions it poses to the viewer. Throughout the film, Grace makes a number of bad decisions, ranging from being rude to a cashier to harming an animal to other egregious acts. In having our protagonist stoop to these lows, Ramsay invites the audience to look inward and question the limits of their empathy. Grace does a variety of wrong things, but where does depression end and culpability begin? Should we be held accountable or forgiven for our wrong-doings if they are brought about by poor mental health? And what does it say about us, as viewers, if our empathy for Grace erodes as she becomes more depressed? If one can make their way through the tortuous slog of a story, there’s much of interest and relevance to ponder here.

Regardless of how unpleasant Die My Love can be, Jennifer Lawrence’s tour de force performance never ceases to amaze. Although another A-list actor in Robert Pattinson stars in the film, Die My Love is firmly Lawrence’s playground, where she is given free reign by Ramsay to explore all the intricacies and depths of a character undergoing an identity crisis, postpartum depression, and a deteriorating marriage. Lawrence fully immerses herself in her character, coming across as believable and realistic as Grace, in a way that blurs the lines of fiction and reality for the viewer.

Pattinson, meanwhile, in a far more limited role, grows into the film as the runtime progresses as Ramsay explores how loving someone and understanding them do not always go hand-in-hand. Despite all of her actions and his inability to wrap his head around them, Pattinson’s Jackson continues to stand by Grace, defending her against other family members and supporting her in ways he thinks are best. Their bond makes for a surprisingly moving, yet certainly subversive love story.

Unfortunately, the strength of Lawrence and Pattinson’s performances do little to offset a disastrous ending for Die My Love. The unpleasantries amplify tenfold with a bleak conclusion that offers nothing of substantive interest and quickly quells any potential to expand on various moral questions posed.

Rating: 3.5/10

Lynne Ramsay has made a career of expertly crafted yet difficult to stomach films, and Die My Love is no exception. Encased in an almost claustrophobic 1.33:1 Academy aspect ratio, her latest effort begins slowly with the barebones of a horror movie before evolving into a raw, unflinching, and decidedly unpleasant portrayal of mental health, in particular postpartum depression and identity crises. The film tests your patience with a repetitive and predictable narrative that elicits in the audience the same kind of frustration and monotony our lead character experiences, creating a unique, albeit rather enjoyable, parallel process between viewer and character. Ramsay eventually lands on something more interesting as she invites audiences to look inward and question the limits of their empathy. These questions are as thought-provoking as they are due to a tour de force performance from Jennifer Lawrence, who fully immerses herself in an uncannily believable manner that blurs the lines between fiction and reality. Unfortunately, the strength of her performance does little to offset a disastrous and bleak conclusion that leaves one questioning what the purpose of the preceding tortuous slog was. Lynne Ramsay is a phenomenal filmmaker and Jennifer Lawrence is a phenomenal actor, but Die My Love is far from a phenomenal film.

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