Die, My Love – What’s Wrong with the Uncomfortable Drama Starring Jennifer Lawrence

Grace and Jackson are a young couple from New York who moved to the countryside, to a house inherited by the latter from a deceased relative. Life in the new place is not going smoothly, and after the birth of a child, it turns into a nightmare. Jackson is constantly absent (claiming to be working), Grace, who initially disliked the new home, misses sex, suffers from a creative crisis (supposedly a writer), and demonstrates complete unreadiness for parenthood. Nearby lives Pam, Jackson’s mother; Grace occasionally visits her for tea, but interaction with the elderly woman only makes her more melancholic. In an effort to cheer up, Grace either starts or invents a romance with a stranger on a motorcycle, but it seems impossible to stop the downward spiral. In one of her most famous films – the 2011 psychological drama ‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’ – screenwriter and director Lynne Ramsay explored teenage psychosis; her new film is dedicated to postpartum psychosis. Ramsay’s commitment to working with uncomfortable themes is undoubtedly admirable. An author willing to spend hours observing up close the spectacular yet repulsive destruction of their own hero requires a certain courage. Jennifer Lawrence, who not only plays Grace in ‘Die, My Love’ but also serves as one of the film’s producers, demonstrates incredible abandon and animal energy, both in numerous scenes reflecting the heroine’s suffering and in rare episodes showing the love between Jackson and Grace. It’s worth noting that Lawrence, best described here as ‘unbridled’, completely outshines her key partner – unable to reach the same level of madness as Robert Pattinson. On the other hand, she is aptly complemented by supporting actors Sissy Spacek (Pam) and Nick Nolte (Harry, Jackson’s father). Grace herself and, perhaps, the whole film lack a core. Lawrence’s incredible physicality makes you worry for the actress, but it does not help make her character more complex. Ramsay intentionally paints a rather abstract picture, lacking important details for understanding the situation, yet leaving room for assumptions. Some may argue that the filmmaker is trying to immerse the audience in the state of the heroine losing touch with reality. However, in reality, Ramsay is proving that speaking clearly on an uncomfortable topic relying solely on talented dedicated actors is unlikely to succeed.