Die My Love

Here I thought we would see a great performance by an actress tormented by post-partem depression. This film seems to be more an exercise in displaying the talents of Jennifer Lawrence then concentrating on a film that might have been insightful and perhaps even enjoyable. The acting doesn't substitute for a film cut back and forth, with the music of John Prine playing continuously as if it was a mantra. This director makes a shambles of a story that the viewer could have more empathized with. A depressing film and not worth a single Oscar nod.

I've watched this movie alone in cinema. I'm not expecting anything at all. But the movie delivered interesting plot and great acting from lead but it quite not brought that exciting part I kind of thought it needed. It was really cinematic but not engaging. I don't know but critic's review is somewhat different to public viewing's opinion about it. I managed to finish the movie and not leaving even though some viewers at the cinema already left just not half of the movie was over. But the movie for me, tackled depression and the state of coping about loss. It was average, but not for me on the first watch. Maybe on the second watch it'll grow and will also unravel some keys to my questions but indeed this movie is really not for everyone.

Despite its committed performances, occasionally intriguing choices and generally quite gorgeous - and delightfully textured - cinematography, very little about Lynne Ramsay's 'Die My Love (2025)' worked for me, and I'm not sure why. It's definitely well-crafted in almost every area, and it knows what it's doing and does it exactly how it wants to, but it's honestly pretty boring. It says everything it's going to say by the halfway point, and it just keeps going. It's the kind of film that I feel as though I should've liked, especially since my brother - whose taste in cinema is almost identical to mine - genuinely enjoyed it, but I just don't and I can't lie about it. It doesn't move me, it doesn't work its way under my skin, it doesn't excite or delight or even frustrate me. It just plays out in front of me. I can tell it's quite good in its own way, but it simply doesn't connect with me and I'm pretty sure it's not just because I don't have first-hand experience of the subject matter. There have been plenty of movies about people and places and feelings and actions entirely unfamiliar to me, and many of them have found their way into my heart and touched me on a deep level. I'm aware that this kind of reads more as an apology than a review, but I simply can't quite put my finger on why I don't like this feature and therefore don't feel comfortable completely condemning it. It's exactly what it wants and needs to be, but it isn't for me. Sometimes, that's just the way it is I suppose.

I knew this type of movie would be for me, but I also understand it's a very niche genre. I think to some level, you have to understand what she's going through to appreciate it. I didn't suffer PPD, but my husband and I were in a car accident that almost killed me and took the life of our 19yr old daughter. We had only just moved to a new state for a fresh start 2mos prior. The year after the accident, I became isolated, depressed, and started to lose it, much in the same as she did. My husband still had to work and provide for me and our other children since I was injured and broken mentally. She literally was living out my intrusive thoughts in the movie. Maybe my situation made it hit close to home and appreciate seeing that on the screen. It also made me feel for my husband who had the weight of the world on his shoulders while grieving and losing me at the same time. My husband and I have been separated for awhile and I don't blame him. The story plays out much like a fractured mind, it's all over the place, but that's the most honest way to depict the story. Despite some negative reviews, I loved it and am glad this movie exists. The performances were amazing, especially Jennifer's. I hope she gets another Oscar for this.

"Die My Love" follows young couple Grace and Jackson (Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson), who relocate to Jackson's rural hometown in Montana for a new start. The couple soon welcome the birth of a son, but their relationship splinters as Grace descends into severe mental illness, while an often emotionally-absent Jackson falters in supporting her.

This emotionally exhausting film by Lynne Ramsay (no stranger to darkness) is a psychological rollercoaster that, despite lacking in some exposition, is no less an effective, turbulent, and abstract journey into one individual's mental decline. Many have characterized this film as one about postpartum depression, but I believe this is both an oversimplification and a mischaracterization. As someone whose lifelong best friend has suffered from inconsistently-medicated bipolar disorder for decades, I found that this film succinctly illustrated exactly what this disorder looks like to a level that is uncanny. Grace's temperament and actions throughout reminded me so much of my friend that I found the film at times extremely difficult to watch.

In terms of story, "Die My Love" is fairly sparse. The film mostly consists of a push-and-pull, a chaotic dance between Grace and Jackson that is both exasperating and occasionally touching. There remains a clear sense that, despite their respective flaws and problems, the two deeply care for each other; however, there is a vortex in the room consuming Grace that goes unchecked for far too long. Grace's reality is entirely obfuscated by her illness, while a distracted Jackson is ill-equipped to be a source of legitimate support. His mother, Pam (Sissy Spacek), who is experiencing her own grief, seems to intuitively recognize the emotional forces that are consuming Grace, but her efforts also remain limited due to a number of interpersonal family dynamics.

The storytelling here employs nonlinear and abstract tactics that are, for the most part, effective. I do think it suffers from a lack of exposition, as the audience gets no real sense of who these people were before Grace's decline. Instead, we are dropped into their lives at the precipice of all this turmoil. A few details about Grace's past eventually emerge near the film's conclusion, but it feels like a case of "too little, too late." Perhaps this was done intentionally so as to mimic the unpredictable, hard-and-fast progression of some mental illnesses, but I still felt as though there was an undergirding to the two leads characters that was sorely missed. Despite this, both Lawrence and Pattinson's performances are outstanding, and Spacek serves as a warm (albeit often helpless) maternal figure between the two.

There is a repetitive nature to the events that unfold as the film hurls toward its conclusion which some may find a slog to get through (and I do think it could have benefitted from some slight editing), but I mainly found it a slog because it was a painful and dispiriting viewing experience. Given my experiences with Ramsay's other films, I expected this, but it hit me harder because it brought up many personal memories. Despite what flaws it may have, as an emotional portrait, it is a real gut-punch of a film. 7/10.