Die My Love
Rating: 4/5
By: Nathaniel Simpson
I adore the fact that instead of taking on very mainstream Hollywood films that could set her up for life, Jennifer Lawrence is careful about choosing the roles she brings to life on screen. While she rose to fame as Katniss in the Hunger Games franchise, she has decided to play more serious roles with directors that are not synonymous with mainstream Hollywood, such as Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell. Her latest role, in Lynne Ramsay's Die My Love, based off the novel by Ariana Harwicz, is perhaps the least mainstream we can get, focusing on the challenges of parenthood and postpartum depression in a very artistic and unique way. Lawrence and her co-star, Robert Pattinson, are fantastic in this gripping film about the challenges many new mothers go through in a film that hits the mark for the most part.
Lawrence plays Grace, who moves to a rural Montana home that her partner Jackson (Pattinson) inherits. Soon, the couple welcome a baby boy into the world, which makes Grace fall down a rabbit hole of depression and loneliness. Following months after the birth of their child, the film explores the psyche of Grace and how quickly her erratic behavior evolves over time, making those around her start to worry for her wellbeing.
Without a doubt, Lawrence is the absolute best part about this movie. This is a version of Lawrence we have never seen before, and she really taps into this character of Grace. With Lawrence herself being a mother, I'm sure there are moments that hit close to home for her, allowing her prior experience of being a mother and the difficulties that go with it influence how she plays this character. Lawrence has the responsibility of carrying this film, and I think she does so beautifully. In terms of Pattinson, I think he is fantastic at complementing the performance Lawrence is giving. He is reacting to the bizarre behavior that Grace is exhibiting, as well as serving as the foil of her character in a way. While she is having a hard time being a parent to their child and dealing with where she is in life, Jackson is seemingly very happy with where their family is at. This conflict between the two is played out very well throughout the movie.
The movie does a great job at really commenting on how parenthood and postpartum depression can really affect someone. While it is shown that Grace might have already been dealing with her own personal issues before the birth of her child, the postpartum really hit her harder than she would have thought. The story moves at a slow-burn pace, showing how she is evolving through her depression and starts to exhibit more erratic and inappropriate behavior. At the same time, the movie works so well because you don't know whether what you are seeing is true or not due to Grace being such an unreliable narrator, but I think this adds to the mysteriousness and the trippy-like quality of the film. It constantly keeps you on your toes and mesmerizes the viewer with odd visuals and interesting cinematography choices. Ramsay does a fantastic job of bringing this vision and message to life that I'm sure many mothers in the world can relate to.
However, with that being said, I think the movie does go a little too far with the mysteriousness and odd behavior. There are certain scenes throughout the film, such as Grace forcing the mysterious motorcyclist (LaKeith Stanfield) to cut his lip before they hook up. While there is perhaps a deeper meaning to this moment, there are moments like this sprinkled throughout the picture that I think could have been cut. It just took me out of the film when certain moments like this took place and made me question what I was truly watching at times.
There is not doubt that I didn't like this movie. I don't have any desire to watch this movie again in this lifetime. But, I can say this is a greatly-executed picture that focuses on mental health and postpartum depression, and it presents these themes and messages in a way that makes you think about the picture for the rest of the day. This movie may be an incredibly hard watch for some, but it is a movie that needs to be seen, not only for the message, but for the fantastic performances that these brilliant actors bring to the big screen.
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