“Happily ever after” begins somewhere like this: a young married couple, brimming with life, intoxicating attraction, and seemingly inexhaustible energy, moves into a house in an almost idyllic spot near the woods. A secluded place where Mrs. (Jennifer Lawrence) can dedicate herself to writing, Mr. (Robert Pattinson) to music, and both of them to a love that feels outrageously confined within four walls. Soon, they’ll be three, even four: Grace is pregnant, and Jackson brings home a dog. One might anxiously anticipate the start of a thriller about home invasion or a slow-burn about a restless ghost – the house was inherited from an uncle who committed suicide. But whatever external threats might loom, a crack is eating away at the union from within.
Jennifer Lawrence as Grace in a still from “Die, My Love”
Exploring the Rawness of Postpartum Experience in “Die, My Love”
Discussions about fertility, reproductive functions, and other metamorphoses that both the female body and consciousness undergo, often fall flat, frequently perceived as a naked feminist statement, a cry for help, rather than an artistic invitation into a personal story. More of a manifesto than a drama. That’s why female directors have shifted to immersive experiences, attempting not verbally, but empathetically, to draw the viewer into the state of a mother on the verge of a nervous breakdown. At Sundance and Berlinale, “If Only I Could Kick You” was shown, where the hypnotic Rose Byrne and director Mary Bronstein transformed the routine of a tired mother into an existential action. Lynne Ramsay chooses an even more radical amplitude of states: Lawrence’s pendulum swings from absolute apathy to unbridled rage, from frantic despair to all-consuming mania.
Jennifer Lawrence as Grace in a still from “Die, My Love”
A Destructive Dive into Inner Turmoil
The screenplay is based on Arina Harvitch’s novel of the same name – a chronicle of destructive impulses that erupts from within like scorching lava. The film opens with a fire scene – an inevitable disaster that awaits both the family on screen and the audience in the theater. Ramsay seems to be trying to look beyond the human and relies on the natural and animal: first, passion makes you growl and tear towards each other, and then deep, visceral despair makes you howl and almost tear your flesh. It is this “be in someone else’s skin” method that Ramsay is most often criticized for after screenings: the director prefers rage to reflection, roars to dialogues, screams to whispers. Lawrence throws herself into all facets of the breakdown with detached courage, dancing, screaming, crawling on the floor, climbing the walls, almost hanging from the ceiling – rootlessness raised to the absolute, no time for introverted experiences; hugging her knees, Grace pours out her loneliness in an endless stream of disjointed actions and unrealized desires.
Isolation and the Death of Love
The vulnerability of the mother and the indifference of those around her coincide with the feeling of abandonment and frightening social isolation that the heroine of Tilda Swinton faces in the merciless “We Need to Talk About Kevin.” The mother cannot resist her son and does not receive an antidote to her anxiety in the form of support from loved ones or even meaningful attention. Grace is literally isolated – the perfect house from a picturesque canvas, which was supposed to be a gentle haven and a world for two + one, turns into a cave, a crypt where love dies. Jackson, who was eagerly fascinated by his wife, not only cooled down physically after the birth of the child, but is also incapable of engaged dialogue. Farewell, speech! The place of remarks and articulation of feelings is taken by the endless barking of a dog that cannot find peace.
Visual Expression and a Haunting Southern Gothic
“Die, My Love” is a rich and stunningly beautiful film of visual expression: Southern Gothic continues to frighten with deserted roads, a woman with a gun at night in a field, the howling of dogs, and all-consuming despair on the ruins of paradise. Jennifer Lawrence herself recently became a mother (Robert Pattinson also became a father) and had to take a break from filming. Returning to the big screen under the guidance of Lynne Ramsay could well become a springboard for new victories and awards in gold – perhaps recognition will begin as early as tomorrow evening with the presentation of the Palme d’Or for best role.