The couple are new mum Grace, played by Jennifer Lawrence, and her partner Jackson (Robert Pattinson), who inherited the house from his late uncle. Although they are playful with each other while checking out their new home, once they move in it becomes clear they have some major problems. Grace stalks through the grass on all fours, hiding from Jackson and a star gazing session foreshadows a fundamental difference in the way they feel about life and their situation. The cosmos makes her feel insignificant while he is thrilled at the thought of being part of something larger. As time goes on, Grace feels more and more isolated, while Jackson is either physically or emotionally absent, and her behaviour becomes increasingly erratic and potentially dangerous.
Director Lynne Ramsay has a reputation as an uncompromising film maker and it's easy to see why producer Martin Scorsese and star Lawrence tapped her to helm this project. The film has an ethereal quality befitting a journey of psychological unraveling but is at the same time, completely real and gives the audience nowhere to hide. As such, it can be a tough watch. At times it's physically uncomfortable, whether you are watching Grace scrape the walls until her fingernails bleed or listening to the non-stop yapping of an unwanted, untrained dog. At others it's mentally distressing and infuriating as you see well-meaning people's flaccid attempts to connect with the struggling mum push her further away. The film really drives home how empty and meaningless stock platitudes like "everyone goes through this" are to someone in a pit of despair.
Grace may have recently had a baby but any kind of postpartum depression is clearly only part of what is going on. Anybody would be struggling in her situation, and that's before discussions of childhood problems and the fact the only person that seems to come close to understanding her is her mother-in-law, who has her own problems. There is never judgement on her actions and watching her drift further away becomes something of an endurance test.
None of this would work if it wasn't for a fantastic central turn from Jennifer Lawrence. She may already be an Oscar winner but this might be her best performance to date. It's certainly her most raw. Throwing inhibition to the wind, she imbues Grace with an animalistic physicality and every detail of her unraveling feels natural and real.
Pattinson is no stranger to an unhinged performance himself but he is very much playing second fiddle here. He still turns in a banger of a performance but boy, is Jackson a hard character to sympathise with. The 2012 book by Ariana Harwicz that forms the basis for the film is told in first person and the story here is very much all from Grace's perspective, so its possible we are only seeing the worst of her partner but the worst is pretty bad. Often away for work, when he is home he's seen lounging around or berating Grace over the state of the house, seems to have no physical interest in her and when she says they need a cat he brings home the world's most annoying dog instead. There are moments when he connects with her but they are all too frustratingly fleeting.
Oppressive and claustrophobic, Die My Love is not a breezy watch, but that's the point, the audience is there to suffer along with the main character in a verdict free expression of mental breakdown. It will likely be too intangible for some, and too abrasive for others, but the filmmaking and acting talent cannot be denied.
8 forest fires out of 10.
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