Review: ‘Die My Love’ is a Primal Scream of Maternal Rage
Jennifer Lawrence stars as Grace, a new mother struggling to hold on to her sanity while becoming wildly unpredictable. Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay’s fifth feature, Die My Love, explores a provocative question through the lens of a mental health crisis: can a wild woman be tamed? The film hints at the answer early on, though the audience only realizes it as the story unfolds.
Plot and Characters
The film follows a young couple, Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson), as they move into a new home and try to create a life together. Their experiences grow increasingly chaotic and uncontrollable, yet the conclusion feels inevitable and rooted in the journey from the start.
Creative Collaboration
Die My Love is the collaboration of three daring women: Jennifer Lawrence, who also produced the film; writer Ariana Harwicz, author of the 2012 novel Matate, amor, which centers on a young mother unraveling in rural France; and Lynne Ramsay, renowned for her vivid imagery and ability to convey cinematic despair and joy. Ramsay co-adapted the novel with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch, directed the film, and cast Lawrence in the lead role.
"The result is a ragged primal scream of a film — not a cry for help, but rather, a bellow of maternal rage."
Setting and Themes
The couple settles in a decrepit house once inhabited by Jackson’s Uncle Frank, filled with both decay and possibility. Jackson encourages Grace to write “the great American novel” while he works on an album, symbolizing hope and creative ambition amid their turbulent life and the arrival of their baby, Harry.
The film powerfully portrays the raw and intense emotions tied to motherhood, mental health, and the struggle for identity.
Author’s summary:
Die My Love intensely captures the fierce and chaotic emotions of motherhood, blending evocative imagery with a story of mental turmoil and creative defiance.