Die My Love Movie Review

If you’ve never known what depression feels like, you will understand after watching Jennifer Lawrence’s performance in this film. ​

This should be shown to any couple who are on the fence about having kids. Maybe I’m being harsh, but one should go in understanding what the possibilities of post-partum depression are and precisely what it is. That said, director Lynne Ramsay could have done a much better job of delivering the message. Though the lighting she chooses adds a horror element to the nightmare Grace (Lawrence) has entered.

Before buying a ticket, make sure you go in knowing what the story is about; if you’re reading this, you do, but don’t let it scare you off. If you can get past the first twenty minutes (remember, movies these days leave you much more to watch beyond this time frame), this movie is worth watching. It does meander about, introducing Jackson (Pattinson) and Grace, this crazy young woman he’s with, to you. You meet them as they’ve learned they’ve inherited an old, filthy home that belonged to Jackson’s late uncle. The house needs a lot of love and care, just as a soon-to-be child does. Maybe the timing will be okay?

Before the baby comes, life is perfect. They care for one another, have good sex, are a bit silly sometimes but they support one another’s dreams. After the infant is born, he goes out of town to work and for her, a writer who has a home office she doesn’t go into, life is boring, mundane and it gives her too much time to think about what she doesn’t have. They don’t live in a big city, they’re on the edge of a small, dull town. She has nothing. She has no one. We see there’s a change. She’s not a very nice person anymore, nice is tiresome. She’d rather be rude to stir some feelings inside, like she does in you, the audience member, when she leaves the baby near the butcher’s knife. Licking glass is fun! So is rearranging oranges in a bowl. She’s, “Stuck between wanting to do something and not wanting to do anything at all.”

Postpartum depression has fully kicked in. Her mother-in-law, Pam (Sissy Spacek) has noticed that Jackson better pay attention. Grace is showing dangerous symptoms of having it… not that Pam is well, herself. With Jackson having panic attacks and feeling stressed, the three are a mess. How can they help one another if they cannot help themselves? My suggestion is to watch this for Lawrence. It’s slow and may think the subject won’t interest you, but it will. And she may very well be up for an Oscar with her work here.

*And for this soundtrack that goes everywhere from Elvis to the rarely heard John Prine, Iris Dement song, “In Spite of Ourselves.” I was blown away. I’m mentioning this song last because the scene is gold.