In an unexpected moment of harmony in Lynn Ramsaylast movie Die my loveMercy (Jennifer Lawrence) and husband Jackson (Robert Pattinson) take turns singing verses from John Prine's “In Spite of Us” as their truck drives down the road. As if Prine wrote the song just for them, they shout in unison, “No matter what, darling, we're the grand prize.” It's a beautiful and tender scene that viewers know is fleeting at best.
Just as Prine's haunting tune documents a duo who can't seem to let each other go despite their differences, Ramsay's film captures a couple tied to a rickety boat, riding an unpredictable wave of emotion.
An adaptation of Ariana Harwich's novel of the same name, the film's opening foreshadows the rift that Grace and Jackson will have to overcome. Setting his camera in the rare, dilapidated home of Jackson's late uncle, for whom they gave up big city life, Ramsay introduces the audience to the couple through the sound of them talking outside. The viewer first sees the couple partially through a window looking into the house. The juxtaposition of empty space and the barely visible Grace perfectly captures what unfolds in the film.
As they build life in their new home, including the birth of their first child, things seem to be moving along at a traditional pace. The frame around their perfect family quickly begins to crack under the weight of the isolation Grace feels. Staying home all day with his child and suffering from severe writer's block, the young writer soon begins to exhibit strange behavior. Her mood swings and increasingly blurred boundaries between fantasy and reality become a source of concern for Jackson and his mother Pam (Sissy Spacek).
As solitude draws out more of Grace's animalistic side, and desire and resentment increasingly intertwine within her, Ramsay's film delves deeper into her character's fractured psyche. Moving between past and present, Die my love concocts a disorienting and increasingly unsettling potion. Although there have been a number of recent films exploring the frustrating nature of motherhood, Night bitch And If I had legs I would kick you These are just a couple of examples: Ramsay's film offers audiences its own unique fever dream. It's a work that's equal parts perplexing and intriguing.
Copied much more freely than in other Ramsay films (We need to talk about Kevin(for example), Grace's condition cannot simply be called postpartum depression. Her erratic outbursts and thoughts, which range from destroying a bathroom to inviting hotel staff into her military room and dark thoughts about a mysterious motorcyclist (LaKeith Stanfield), feels like a whirlwind that pulls everyone around into its whirlwind, including the audience.
As Ramsay's film oscillates between chaotic and bleak, Grace's frustration with her life and Jackson's inability to truly see her becomes more acute. Even though viewers may not fully understand all of her internal conflicts, we are always aware of various triggers, such as Jackson bringing home a puppy that she knows she will have to take care of, which will cause her to spiral further.
What makes Ramsay's exploration of motherhood intriguing is that those around her, including Jackson, who tries to be there for her in his own misguided way, don't understand that Grace can no longer see herself.
As Grace walks down a path whose destination only she seems to know, Lawrence's mesmerizing performance holds the audience's attention. By presenting the heroine as a woman struggling to adhere to a social structure she no longer believes in, we remain aware of her different layers even in the film's murkiest moments. Despite all of the character's wild, sometimes bewildering behavior, Lawrence ensures that Grace prevails as a person always deserving of compassion.
Pattinson's confident turn as Jackson further enhances Lawrence's performance. Bringing nuance to a husband who, although short-sighted at times, struggles to love the woman he now struggles to understand, Pattinson evokes a variety of emotions with simple gestures.
Raised by strong work from his composition, Die my love remains an entertaining and intricate exploration of the dark ways motherhood can trap a person in a box they never quite fit into. Since Ramsay leaves much up to the audience, the film will undoubtedly garner an equal share of critics and supporters. Complex work that is sometimes difficult to decipher, Die my love turns out to be a fascinating exploration of how motherhood can cause a person to lose sight of the person they once were.
