The Repetition of DIE MY LOVE

DIE MY LOVE (4K + Blu-ray)

2025 / 119 min

MUBI 

Review by Stinky the Destroyer😾

Let’s accentuate the positive first. The performances in Die My Love are outstanding. As far as Jennifer Lawrence is concerned, it might even be the best of her career, certainly deserving of the Golden Globe she was nominated for. She approaches the role of Grace with a level of fearlessness and bravery that’s truly compelling (sometimes morbidly so). Co-star Robert Pattinson, as Grace’s beleaguered boyfriend/husband Jackson, further distances himself from the old Twilight days. He successfully avoids being overshadowed by Lawrence in a role that, depending on how one views the film, is either a protagonist or an antagonist. 

At no time do we feel like we’re watching actors, but a really troubled couple whose lives are unraveling due to Grace’s severe postpartum depression (and no small amount of Jackson’s perceived lack of emotional support). Elsewhere, director/co-writer Lynne Ramsey makes a lot of aesthetically interesting choices that enhance the film’s surreal, sometimes hallucinatory moments, bolstered by excellent cinematography by Seamus McGarvey.

However, I can’t eliminate the negative. Despite those stellar performances and themes worth exploring, Die My Love is a challenge to endure. Not because it’s very deliberately paced and depressing. Given her reputation, I wasn’t expecting sunshine and lollipops from Ramsey, anyway. But while Lawrence and Pattinson are all-in, their characters are static and simplistically conceived. Aside from an opening scene where they engage in an uninhibited bout of lovemaking (presumably conceiving the child that’s the catalyst for what follows), Grace and Lawrence are defined by verbal and physical conflict. 

A Montana honeymoon. 

In fact, neither of them come across as all that likable or sympathetic. Grace, in particular, grows increasingly vindictive and unhinged, some of her actions bordering on unforgivable. But here’s the biggest problem…Die My Love soon becomes phenomenally repetitive. Not to disparage the impact of postpartum depression on women and families, but as depicted here, the repeated pattern of crises and reconciliation gets rather predictable and boring after a while, despite efforts to jazz things up visually. Along the way, there are no character epiphanies, no meaningful explorations into the nature of this disorder and certainly nothing resembling levity (though I suppose some of this could be seen as black comedy). 

Still, some viewers might appreciate the film’s frankness, surreal elements and no-small-amount of sensationalism. If nothing else, the great cast (including Sissy Spacek & Nick Nolte) makes it difficult to dismiss Die My Love entirely. However, two hours is an interminable amount of time to spend with characters who are exactly the same at the film’s conclusion as they were at the beginning.