Die My Love | Furiously disturbing

It’s a story of crazy love, downright raving madness, then pure madness. With all the beautiful, the ugly, the intense and the disturbing that you can imagine, featuring a fiery duo, composed of Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson.

Inspired by the bestselling novel by Argentinian author Ariana Harwicz (Kill, love), the film, signed here by British director Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin), tells the story of a very infatuated young couple, Grace and Jackson, who inherit a cabin in rural America. From the first images, the chemistry is palpable, as they make wild love to the sound of deafening music, on the kitchen floor of their new home.

Next scene: here is Grace in overalls, her stomach nicely rounded. The baby will arrive quickly in the portrait. Then the long, lonely nights taking care of it.

Many things have been said, since its premiere at Cannes, in official competition, about this psychological thriller. In summary, and if some have seen this as an incursion into the world of postpartum depression, let us say that it is something much more complicated, certainly darker. Rather: the descent into hell of an exalted and a priori exhilarating couple, with the murky waters of mental health in the background.

We are well beyond the spectrum of motherhood, and we border on psychosis at times, smashed glass doors, smashed mirrors included.

Jennifer Lawrence’s performance, as a young mother, driven by a furious, almost animal, uncontrollable thirst for life, is breathtaking. You have to see her crawling on all fours in the grass, or even undressing, as naturally as possible, in the middle of a children’s party. Robert Pattinson, as a completely overwhelmed father, is a bit more self-effacing. It must be said that he is often absent for work. We won’t really know what he’s doing. A box of condoms in your glove compartment will cause a few sparks.

The credits include LaKeith Stanfield (as a mysterious biker, lurking around Grace at night, does he even really exist?), Nick Nolte (touching sick stepfather) and Sissy Spacek (helpless stepmother, the type to sleep with a gun).

Not very relaxing, the film keeps the viewer in suspense until the very end. Everything is based on a series of tensions, exploited in abundance: love and hatred, woman and mother, silence and cacophony. There will be jolts, be warned.

Special mention to the superb photo direction (Seamus McGarvey), and his images as aesthetic as they are disturbing, like this Grace, in a white nightgown in the dark night, like a dream, or perhaps a nightmare? Besides, what part is true, what is false, or what is fantasy here?

The viewer is certainly missing a few keys to answer. It will be frustrating for some, decidedly exhilarating for others. Disturbing for everyone.

In the room

Psychological drama

Die My Love (V.F. : Die my love)

Lynne Ramsay

With Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson

1 h 58

7,5/10