In April 2024, when we interviewed Lynne Ramsay at Stockfish in Iceland, she mentioned her upcoming projects, including Die My Love, now unveiled in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival. She described it thus: “It’s a comedy and a love story, but it’s my kind of comedy and love story, so it’s going to be dark and fucked up.” The description is undoubtedly, technically, true. Whether the film delivers, particularly on the comedy front, will largely be up to the individual viewer and their tolerance threshold for just how dark and fucked up things can get.
Based on the novel of the same name by Argentine writer Ariana Harwicz, the film takes place a bit in the middle of nowhere, where Grace (Jennifer Lawrence, also a producer on the film) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson) live. Much to her chagrin, the house belonged to his late uncle (whose cause of death is later the subject of some of the movie’s more colorful dialogue) and is not that far away from where his parents (Sissy Spacek and Nick Nolte) live. Then again, there’s plenty of sex to make up for that setback.
And then, Grace gets pregnant, gives birth to a son, and falls into post-partum depression which manifests itself primarily through her lashing out at Jackson for not performing his husbandly duties (and, on an almost equal scale of unforgivability, getting a dog he goes on to neglect since he’s frequently away for work). The outside world tries to give advice, but Grace’s universe continues to progressively unravel, jeopardizing her mental wellbeing and, when she’s at her worst, that of her immediate family.
Ramsay has never shied away from depicting her characters’ darker sides, showing them with empathy, but not necessarily sympathy. In this case, while one might assume things will go sideways in the second half (and they very much do), the film makes a point of highlighting just how dysfunctional the central couple was even before the baby came along, with a first few minutes that are boldly, deliberately abrasive, particularly when it comes to the at times eardrum-shattering sound design (stellar work by Paul Davies and Ian Waggott). Even the physical intimacy Grace will go on to crave so desperately is visually messy and fragmented, setting the stage and tone for an increasingly detached relationship with reality, from her and him alike.
That Pattinson would be willing to commit to such a world and performance is no surprise: ever since he was finally able to put the Twilight franchise behind him, he has steadfastly embraced the freedom that playing Edward Cullen gave him in terms of choosing whatever project he wants to do for the rest of his life (and even when he concedes to the mainstream, as with The Batman, it’s on his terms as to the type of character he wants to embody). Much like in Mickey 17, he admirably puts himself in the director’s hands and emerges with a fully formed, layered, not particularly likeable character.
Lawrence, conversely, is a bit of a revelation, for while her talent was never in doubt (and she trod similar ground in Darren Aronofsky’s mother!), she has spent a longer chunk of her career in projects that, while not unworthy, certainly fell on the more conventional side (even her foulmouthed, comically nude turn in 2023’s No Hard Feelings was fairly standard R-rated comedy material). That is definitely not the case here, as she gives it her all as Grace and, like Emma Stone in some of her most recent projects, shows a keen eye for the kind of stories she wants to develop as a producer (although Martin Scorsese was the initial driving force, Lawrence is the one who sent the book to Ramsay).
In doing so, the actress and the director succeed where Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch, starring Amy Adams, struggled: while dealing with similar ideas, Heller’s work was always in a bit of a gray area, never quite sure how far to take it with the insanity baked into the premise, perhaps in an attempt to avoid alienating audiences. Die My Love, on the other hand, knows from the get-go that it won’t be to everyone’s taste, and dives headfirst into the twisted world best summed up by the director’s own rendition of a famous song in the end credits: love will tear us apart. Again.
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Screenwriters: Lynne Ramsay, Enda Walsh, Alice Birch
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, LaKeith Stanfield, Sissy Spacek, Nick Nolte
Producers: Martin Scorsese, Jennifer Lawrence, Justine Ciarrocchi, Andrea Calderwood, Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill
Cinematography: Seamus McGarvey
Production design: Tim Grimes
Costume design: Catherine George
Sound: Paul Davies, Ian Waggott
Production company: Black Label Media
World sales: 193
Venue: Cannes Film Festival (Competition)
In English
118 minutes
