Die My Love (2025)
Directed by: Lynne Ramsay
Premise: An adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel. A couple (Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson) moves into an isolated rural home and have a baby. Tensions boil over.
What Works: Die My Love is an intimate portrait of a woman buckling under the pressures of motherhood, marriage, and personal ambition. Grace is introduced as a vivacious person who exudes creativity and sexuality. Grace and her partner Jackson move into a rural home with the intention of allowing Grace the space to write her novel. Instead, Grace has a baby and is left home alone with the child while Jackson travels for work. Grace rebels against her restraints and becoming increasingly self-destructive. Die My Love is about the pitfalls of domesticity, the volatility of frustrated artists, and the throes of postpartum depression. The filmmaking and the performances put us in a distressing emotional headspace. Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson play Grace and Jackson and they are convincing as an unhappy couple. Although Die My Love is led by two movie stars, it doesn’t feel Hollywood. The imagery has a raw, unpolished look and the film’s lack of glamour suits the story and the setting. The cinematography is often handheld which complements Lawrence’s performance. She’s often at her best when playing troubled characters as in Mother! and American Hustle. Lawrence is on edge throughout Die My Love, giving the energy of a caged animal. Her interactions with other mothers are brutally funny. Pattinson is also impressive. Jackson isn’t a good partner but we can see the concern and bewilderment in Pattinson’s performance as he watches Grace spin out of control.
What Doesn’t: Die My Love dramatizes a familiar scenario in which a woman discovers that motherhood and marriage are exhausting and not always fun. Grace is trapped in her home, unable to pursue her passions while caring for a baby and an inconsiderate husband. It’s a theme we’ve seen repeatedly in films such as Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Nightbitch. 2025 has seen a lot of movies about unhappy couples such as Splitsville, The Roses, Materialists, and Bone Lake. Die My Love’s performances and visceral style make it one of the better examples of this genre but the film retreads a lot of the same ideas without finding any new insights. Die My Love includes an infidelity subplot; it’s strongly implied that Jackson is a cheater and Grace has an affair with a neighbor (LaKeith Stanfield) but nothing comes of this. The ending is stylistically bold but it is also cynical without really revealing anything.
Bottom Line: Die My Love succeeds as a study of madness and depression. It’s observations about marriage and motherhood are familiar but Die My Love is exceptionally well made with great performances by Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.
Episode: #1974 (November 16, 2025)