Film Review – Die My Love

November 6th, 2025 | POSTED BY Allen Almachar

Lynne Ramsay, the critically acclaimed writer/director of Morvern Callar (2002), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), and You Were Never Really Here (2017) is back with her latest, Die My Love (2025). This time, she tackles the trials and tribulations of parenthood, relationships, and the struggles of finding balance within an increasingly imbalanced life. Of course, when you are the type of filmmaker of Ramsay’s talent, this is anything but your typical story of domestic turbulence. She brings a unique blend of stark authenticity, dreamlike impressionism, and slapstick absurdity to real-world themes, creating something that feels familiar yet brand new at the same time. But does all this come together coherently? The answer to that is a little unclear.

Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson star as Grace and Jackson. When we meet them, the two have just moved into Jackson’s late uncle’s home in the country. Although the house is a fixer-upper and has a tragic family history attached to it, Grace and Jackson move in with optimism. Jackson jokes that living far away from the city will allow him to play his music, and Grace aspires to write “The Great American Novel.” An early montage has the two settling in, horsing around to rock albums, making love on the dining room floor, and crawling around the nearby fields like animalistic creatures. Soon enough, Grace gives birth to a child. At first, the baby is a welcome addition, as we see the three spending time outdoors soaking in the sun. But as the needs of the child increase, the lack of sleep builds and personal sacrifices are made. Grace grows weary under the weight of parenthood. She suffers extreme postpartum depression, to the point that her mental health starts to crack.

I don’t think it’s a news flash to say that being a parent is hard. I have children of my own, and I can certainly relate to the long nights, the endless crying, having to be responsible for the safety and security of another life – it’s a tough job. But I won’t pretend that I know what it’s like to be a mother. You must deal with everything I just described plus the added pressures of your body going through a traumatic event. There’s also the unfair social expectations of taking on the matriarchal role of the family. All of that just scratches the surface of Grace. The tension and anxiety show in her erratic behavior. She becomes rude and confrontational to strangers, continuously masturbates as a form of release, finds herself isolated due to Jackson’s lack of support and understanding, and fantasizes about having an affair with a mysterious biker (LaKeith Stanfield). She tries to find some connection with her mother-in-law, Pam (Sissy Spacek), but Pam is going through her own struggles with the loss of her husband (Nick Nolte). Grace’s existence becomes a rubber band stretched too far – sooner or later it will snap.

The screenplay (Ramsay, Enda Walsh, Alice Birch) adapts Ariana Harwicz’s book without a traditional plot structure. Instead, the narrative unfolds as a series of episodes, each one detailing Grace’s slow decline. The editing (Toni Froschhammer, Adam Biskupski) jumps around in time and place, creating a collage like affect that contrasts Grace’s life with Jackson before and after having her baby. It’s a stark 180-degree turn, where the carefree nature of their romance is juxtaposed to the disheveled, jaded way they live in the present. The cinematography (Seamus McGarvey) gets more surreal the further along we go. At times, we aren’t sure if what we are watching is happening in reality or inside of Grace’s mind. Background sounds of baby cries and dogs barking chips away her composure. The corners of the screen blur out with only Grace in focus, highlighting her sense of claustrophobia. She gets put on an island, where everything and everyone sets her off. Even when Jackson tries to be helpful, it only adds to her anguish. 

No question, Die My Love is an ambitious effort from Ramsay and the rest of the production. Everyone involved swings for the fences. However, there are moments where I wondered if the ambition takes away from the film’s effectiveness – particularly in the performances. There is no debating that Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson are two of the most talented actors working today. They have the ability to tackle a wide variety of roles. Here, those talents are put to the test, as Ramsay has them pushing their limits. They are asked to make some exaggerated choices. The screaming, crawling all over the ground, the big gestures and facial expressions, etc. It’s as though they are constantly working on a highwire. This is especially true for Lawrence, whose work as Grace has her using every muscle in her face and body to go as broad as humanly possible. Whether it is taking off her clothes at the most inopportune times, scratching at the walls, manically jumping around like a whirlwind – it’s a lot of acting. There is no subtlety to Grace, she expresses her emotions as though she is barely hanging on to her sanity.

I’m on the fence with the film. Ramsay clearly has a strong vision. There was never an instance where she didn’t have complete control of the picture. However, there is a part of me that looked at these characters and thought, “Parenthood is tough, we’ve all been through it.” There are plenty of examples of people raising a child and not losing their souls. Maybe it’s the parent side of me, but I had a difficult time relating with any of the characters, because they all seem so downtrodden after having just one baby. Did Grace and Jackson’s problems exist before their child was born, and were those problems just magnified afterward? Maybe, but the narrative doesn’t address that. It also doesn’t help that both Grace and Jackson are unlikeable people. Jackson is aloof to his wife’s problems. He gets to escape for a while when he goes to work, she doesn’t. He is less sensitive to her desperation, thinking that everything can be resolved with a quick fix. Grace’s unhinged actions make her tough to be around – so much so that we question if she is a danger to herself and others. There are scenes where we become anxious over the safety of the baby. A big moment – involving Grace and Jackson’s pet dog – was so severe that it dissolved my empathy for them.

Many will see Die My Love and make immediate comparisons to Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! (2017), which was also about Jennifer Lawrence’s character facing a major crisis in her own home. However, I find closer parallels between this and John Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence (1974). In both, a woman’s severe mental illness puts a strain on her marriage. But where Cassavetes’ work drew me in with its story and characters, Die My Love felt like it was actively pushing me away. It’s impressive on a technical level, but I never connected to it emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually. 

A Woman Under the Influence, Adam Biskupski, Alice Birch, Ariana Harwicz, Darren Aronofsky, Die My Love, Enda Walsh, Featured, Jennifer Lawrence, John Cassavetes, Lakeith Stanfield, Lynne Ramsay, mother!, Nick Nolte, Robert Pattinson, Seamus McGarvey, Sissy Spacek, Toni Forschhammer, We Need to Talk About Kevin, You Were Never Really Here