“Die My Love” is a newly released film starring Jennifer Lawrence. Grace, the protagonist, lives in a rural Montana home with her husband, Jackson, and their adorable baby. She is an author who struggles to write in the confines of their home. Jackson, played by Robert Pattinson, is at work all day, leaving Grace alone with their child. It is quickly revealed that Grace is not of sound mind. She acts erratically out of boredom and seems tormented by the state she was left in after giving birth.
The opening scene involved Grace crawling around outside with a giant knife. She ended up using it to cut her baby’s birthday cake. It took a long time to catch on to the plot. There did not seem to be enough going on. We watched Grace exercise her free will by licking a window and barking back at the dog, but the conflict took a while to become clear.
Speaking of the dog, Jackson brought it home early on in the movie, and the director made the creative choice to have it bark incessantly for many scenes. The point was probably to drive the audience crazy in the same way Grace was being driven crazy, but it made the movie less enjoyable.
I went into to Black Bear Cinemas blind. I read the brief plot, but it did not offer much information. I was let down by the film because I spent the entire runtime expecting more to happen. Of course, several small things happened. Grace had a lot of incidents, like taking her clothes off at a party and jumping out of a moving car, but I sat around waiting for horror. It is categorized as a thriller, but there was no thrill in watching it.
By the looks of it, I assumed that maybe something would start terrorizing her. There was a man on a motorcycle who kept driving by, and I thought maybe he would do something. It ended up being that Grace had an affair with him… at least I think so. It could have been a fantasy of hers. There was not a clear line between reality and delusion.
If they had to put the audience through her psychosis firsthand, it would have been one of those movies where we realize that something major was not as it seemed. Maybe she was actually in a mental hospital the entire time. Maybe she is a single mom and Jackson only existed in her imagination. I love being misled, like I was by “Shutter Island” or “Fractured.” In this case, it almost felt like her insanity was unfinished or unclear.
On a positive note, Jennifer Lawrence acted incredibly. She was probably the best option for such a complicated role. Her and Robert Pattinson felt like a real couple too. They argued naturally and looked the part of a young couple experiencing turmoil.
Normally, I provide a plot summary in movie reviews but I can not begin to explain the sequence of events. Just see for yourself. Overall, the movie does a good job of portraying postpartum depression and Grace’s struggles that are probably more common than we realize. It ended with her walking naked into a forest fire and Jackson calling after her, a symbol of her being lost to mental health struggles.
Overall rating: 4/10. My expectations may have been too high.
