Die My Love review: Jennifer Lawrence bares her soul
In ‘Die My Love,’ a woman’s imagination blends with reality as she’s overwhelmed by the lonely tedium of her rural home.
Sometimes you just need a change in scenery. But too drastic of a change can have the opposite effect. There are people who crave solitude. Their life goals include abandoning city life for the isolation and quiet of the country. Then there are people who think that’s what they want, only to take the plunge and then feel like the seclusion is suffocating. In Die My Love, a new mother slowly unravels as she’s crushed by loneliness and boredom in her new home.
Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson) are madly in love when they leave New York to move back to his hometown in Montana. He’s excited to return, while she’s thrilled to be with him. Unfortunately, she finds little inspiration in her new surroundings and is unable to write a single word. Soon, she gives birth to their first child, which becomes the centre of her world. But that world is gradually shrinking into insignificance. Jackson is away for work most of the week, leaving her alone with no friends or sense of direction. Outside of caring for the baby, Grace retreats from normalcy and begins to show signs that she might be losing her grip on reality.
The film adapts Argentine author Ariana Harwicz’s book of the same name. However, the novel is all interior monologue and the movie doesn’t even have a narrator. Instead, Lawrence’s emotions explode from her actions and expressions. Grace walks listlessly through the messy house, deliberately knocking things over as she goes. For the first year, she would playfully prowl on all fours like a large cat stalking its prey. Now, Grace’s body appears heavy, as if her unhappiness has a physical weight that hinders her movements.
A companion booklet distributed at the screening describes key cast and crew’s connection to the film. Harwicz describes her frame of mind when she wrote the novel, similarly dealing with motherhood and isolation. The cinematographer, Seamus McGarvey, discusses the use of close-ups and distortion to bring viewers into Grace’s emotional state. Notably, Lawrence talks about her distinct connection to the character and how motherhood affected her own identity. Her on-screen vulnerability represents an evolution for the actress, signifying a more mature turn in her career.
Lawrence’s commitment to the role is stirring. Trapped in her rural home, the camera doesn’t exist. She literally dances like no one is watching, though the joy is eventually sucked out of her movements. Her level of undress is a measure of the heat and her exhaustion. Director Lynne Ramsay has experience in drawing subtly poignant performances from her actors, as previously seen in You Were Never Really Here and We Need to Talk about Kevin. Even Pattinson is understated as Jackson struggles with his inability to give Grace what she needs. How he and Lawrence react to each other as their relationship collapses is the distressed heart of the film.
Over the course of the movie, it becomes more difficult to determine what’s real and what’s an invention of Grace’s delusions. As Jackson spurns Grace’s sexual advances, her imagination provides explanations. Is Jackson having sex with truck stop waitresses? A rotating pack of condoms in the glove box raises suspicion, but are they really there? A motorcyclist always lingers when he passes their property. Are Grace’s trysts with him just masturbatory fantasies or has she found someone who still desires her?
Exploring the mind of a woman on the edge can be difficult. The film’s cerebral journey won’t be for everyone. Grace doesn’t express her feelings in ways with which audiences are familiar. She doesn’t spend the whole movie crying or yelling. She quietly falls apart and it’s impossible to look away.
Director: Lynne Ramsay
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson and Sissy Spacek
