Written by Dilan Fernando

Beware of Grace (Jennifer Lawrence). She crawls, sprawls, lingers, fingers, shouts, pouts – all stemming from postpartum depression. Grace has abandonment issues so speculates her clinical psychiatrist when she sees committed to a facility. Grace says that her parents died in a plane crash when she was 10. However, this accident loses all sentiment when she admits, “I wish you weren’t mine.”, when speaking about them. This is one of the few things of merit that describes how she feels rather than having the audience experience how she feels. Grace’s affection seems to be waning by this point however, was there enough emotion to begin, if so, which ones? Like the doctor’s speculative diagnosis the other characters are left to hypothesize what Grace is going through. An example is an interesting scene where Grace wrecks the household bathroom, clawing the walls until her nails bleed, trying to exercise these feelings while partner Jackson (Robert Pattinson) grits teeth and pounds on the door. This is the fatal flaw of Die My Love, the lack of communication between its characters. Lynne Ramsay hopes to create an immersive experience but isn’t some level of understanding necessary to sympathize or empathize?

The film opens with a static wide shot of a rundown house with dirt-debris spread across its walls, vermin running rampant and giving the impression it’s a place for outcasts to run wild. Grace and Jackson pull up to the house and give it a walkthrough before realizing the tumultuous task of restoring it to a livable condition. This is one of Ramsay’s best directed scenes as it establishes the home that the pair hope to make of this abode, the house’s interior reflecting Grace’s inner turmoil and how both Grace and Jackson will have to support each other to make a family work. All of which is done with a single shot and slow push-in.

Ramsay shows the couple as a pair of reckless, wild, unbothered teenagers; chasing each other, screwing like rabbits and living with a care in the world. Until Grace becomes pregnant, that’s when everything changes… The couple has a baby shower with friends and family. Jackson’s parents Pam (Sissy Spacek) and Harry (Nick Nolte) have also been living in a state of constant care, as Pam has been taking care of Harry who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Harry and Grace seem to have an unspoken connection despite having many similarities in behaviour. Harry’s erratic behaviour has him throwing things sporadically, having rage-filled outbursts and wandering aimless unbeknownst to what set him off. Grace hasn’t quite reached Harry’s level of feeling lost yet, however, after the baby is born she’s seen wielding a knife, gleefully walking through the grass and looking at her new family (Jackson and the newborn) like a lion stalking its prey. Pam, who out of all the relatives at the dinner table the day of the baby shower seems to be the only one that has children knows how Grace and Jackson feel. Jackson as the caretaker for someone he truly loves, faults and all. Grace as the mother who will do anything to protect her child even if it’s from herself – which is a strange contradiction that both brings her both a sense of peace and anguish.

Grace and Pam share two beautiful scenes together, Spacek outshining in each of them. One, is when Grace, unable to sleep, treks all the way to Pam’s house and after sitting down for tea Pam tries her best to help her through what she’s feeling. This scene is one of the warmest in the film as it’s not what Pam says to Grace but how she says it, with tenderness. Two, is when Grace returns from the facility and Jackson hosts a welcome back party. Grace, who’s on edge as there are many people hovering about passing by with half-hearted pleasantries, Grace takes a glass of wine and makes a party stopping toast that’s cryptic and pessimistic. The only one to return the gesture is Pam, her way of saying, ‘I see and hear you.’.

*Die My Love* does its best to stir the emotions of its audience, but the film’s attempts don’t always succeed.

Ramsay’s valiant direction to immerse the viewer in Grace’s mind works to a degree however, it lacks an emotional understanding. Lawrence’s performance is an interesting one as she lets herself be totally consumed by Grace’s depression. A difficult role for any actress, even more difficult for someone who is new to motherhood like Lawrence. Grace is left battling against postpartum depression without any indication of whether or not she's too far gone for someone to step in and help her. The issue that creates this division between the audience and Grace is that the script is greatly underwritten. Surely, Ramsay, Enda Walsh (Small Things Like These) and Alice Birch could have had some descriptive dialogue that would act as a counterpart to the visuals.

Instead, there are plot elements like the mysterious motorcycle rider Karl (Lakeith Stanfield), the black stallion that gallops in fields surrounding the house and a box of condoms in Jackson’s glove compartment. All these details seem to materialize in Grace’s mind as she tries to overcome the depression, however, they aren’t discussed further, merely acknowledged almost implicitly. Perhaps, this is how Ramsay fashioned the film, to be more of an emotional experience rather than a suggestive one. If you’re left wondering whether or not Grace and Jackson will survive, at the film’s press conference during the Cannes Film Festival, Sissy Spacek said, “As the grandmother in the film I think they will make it.” Hopefully, the couple have as much faith in each other as Pam does in them, if not, what the title suggests is a fond farewell.

Dilan Fernando graduated with a degree in Communications from Brock University. ”Written sentiments are more poetic than spoken word. Film will always preserve more than digital could ever. Only after a great film experience can one begin to see all that life has to offer.“