Die My Love is an abrasive, unsettling film about postpartum depression and the slow disintegration of a marriage, staged as something close to an American gothic nightmare. From its opening moments, it is clear that Lynne Ramsay is uninterested in comfort or moderation. Everything is pushed to extremes: emotions, sound, acting,,. It is raw, often deliberately unpleasant and powered by a performance from Jennifer Lawrence that feels fearless in its exposure. It is also a film that will undoubtedly divide audiences, not because its subject is unfamiliar, but because of the way it chooses to confront it.
The premise is deceptively simple. Grace (Jennifer Lawrence(, a new mother, moves with her husband Jackson (Robert Pattinson) to a remote rural house, where the isolation and pressures of early motherhood begin to erode her sense of self. As days blur into nights, and care turns into routine and then into burden, her mental state deteriorates. What follows is not a linear descent but a series of emotional ruptures, arguments, silences and violent mood swings that slowly tear apart both her inner world and her relationship, with flashbacks to some earlier, happier and wilder times of a young passion.
The film is less interested in diagnosis than in immersion, asking the viewer to sit inside Grace’s instability rather than observe it from a safe distance.
Lawrence’s performance is the film’s most striking element. She plays Grace without filters or softening, leaning fully into volatility, exhaustion and rage. This is not a performance designed to be “likable” or reassuring. Her Grace is erratic, confrontational, often hard to be around, and that is precisely the point. Lawrence refuses the more familiar screen language of maternal suffering, where pain is quietly endured or expressed through restraint, here she does the exact opposite. There is a physicality to her performance that feels almost punishing. Scenes of domestic life are played not for intimacy but for friction. Arguments escalate quickly, affection turns into resentment, and moments of apparent calm are broken by sudden violence or despair. Lawrence commits fully to this register, and the film depends on that commitment.
Opposite her, Sissy Spacek provides a crucial counterbalance. As Grace’s mother in law, she grounds the film emotionally, offering more measured presence amid the chaos. She plays her character with empathy , sympathetic to Grace’s situation, clearly aware of her suffering, yet she remains level-headed, practical, avoiding to be too forgiving . In many ways, she becomes the film’s emotional centre.
Lynne Ramsay's direction loud, brash and deliberately excessive. The camera is often intrusive, hovering close to faces, catching moments of distortion and disorientation. Sound design is aggressive, with music and ambient noise frequently overwhelming dialogue. The rural setting, rather than offering tranquillity, becomes another source of menace. Open spaces feel empty rather than freeing and interiors feel oppressive. The film draws heavily on American gothic imagery, using isolation, decay and emotional repression as its building blocks.
In many ways, this feels like Lynne Ramsay making a first film compared to her more measured and restrained earlier work. There is a sense of risk-taking here: imperfect, rough around the edges, purposely confrontational but heartfelt. In the end, Die My Love is less about resolution than about exposure. It does not offer neat conclusions or reassuring frameworks. Instead, it leaves the viewer with an experience that is messy, painful and unresolved. Whether audiences admire it or resist it, it sure will not be forgotten.
Review by Laurent de Alberti
Official Selection, in Competition
Star rating: ★★★★☆
Die My Love. Directed by Lynne Ramsay. Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek...
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