A One Mann’s Movies review of “Die My Love” (From the 2025 London Film Festival). (2025, 3.5*, 15).
Also getting a limited UK release from today (with a wider UK distribution due on November 14th), “Die My Love” is another film that I saw at the LFF. I found it a difficult film to warm to.
This review was first published on October 24th 2025.
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I found Lynne Ramsay’s new film, “Die My Love”, a difficult one to rate. While I think it’s a well-made film I also found it a very uncomfortable and unpleasant film to watch.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson) move from New York into Jackson’s uncle’s old rat-infested house in the country. Although its a dump, they seem happy: “It’s not New York… but it’s ours”. But a new baby sends Grace into a spiral of boredom, despair and hallucination that threatens to tear both of their lives apart.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC web site: “Mental health theme, strong sex, nudity, language”. )
Talent:
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Nolte, LaKeith Stanfield.
Directed by: Lynne Ramsay.
Written by: Enda Walsh, Lynne Ramsay & Alice Birch. (Based on the book by Ariana Harwicz.)
Running Time: 1h 58m.
Summary:
Positives:
- The script is really savage, delivering without compromise on the story.
- Jennifer Lawrence gives a raw, animalistic performance.
- The film has a number of jump scares that really made me jump.
Negatives:
- It’s hard work for the audience.
- It’s difficult to really like either Grace or Jackson.
Full Review of “Die My Love”:
Lawrence strips… again.
This gives me another opportunity to trot out one of my favourite clips from the comedian Dennis Pennis, door-stepping Demi Moore and asking “Under any circumstances, if it wasn’t gratuitous and it was tastefully done, would you consider keeping your clothes on in a movie?”. For once again we are subjected to yet more, almost unlimited shots, of Jennifer Lawrence in various states of undress. As Grace, one of the symptoms of her condition (assumed to be postpartum depression but I’ve seen it also described as bi-polar condition) is extreme horniness. She generally gets it where she can.
Early in the film we see her lying semi-naked in a field with her hand shoved down her shorts, masturbating, before crawling, knife in hand, like some sort of stealthy animal, towards her house where the baby lies in a pram outside. My nerves were already set to ‘jangling’ and remained that way for most of the rest of the film.
Sex, or lack of it, pervades the film with Grace finding packets of condoms in the glovebox of the car which Jackson claims have been ‘there forever’… but the lack of sex she is getting at home implies he is playing away during his many business trips. A fraught exchange with a waitress in a diner amplifies those suspicions. A scene where Grace confronts Jackson about her lack of sex and then insists on riding him in the car outside the house that Pam (Sissy Spacek) is babysitting in is comically done.
Or is it all in her mind?
This plays out as a psychological thriller, so Grace might be an unreliable narrator in all of this. It’s difficult to tell. When she is in the front yard, she keeps seeing a red-leather-clad motorcyclist cruising past, checking her out. Later when she confronts the biker in a remote barn, the cyclist turns out to be LaKeith Stanfield (as Karl). But when she confronts Karl and his wife in a grocery shop car park, he doesn’t recognise her at all. Is it all an illusion? A sexual rape fantasy that she is brewing in her own head?
Grace is difficult to like.
Considering we are following Grace as the main focus of the film, she’s a very unlikable character. She is just plain rude and obnoxious to just about everyone she meets, from shop cashiers to family friends. The only other people she seems to show any empathy with is her father-in-law Harry, a welcome return to the big screen for a very good Nick Nolte, who is suffering from dementia and, to a degree, her mother-in-law Pam played by the great Sissy Spacek. It is Pam who finally confesses how Uncle Frank, the original owner of their house, died… and it was messy!
Animal Lovers beware.
Grace is certainly no friend of animals and hates the constantly yapping dog that Jackson brings home as a ‘surprise’. I won’t spoil the plot, but just to say that this film will receive a positive reference on doesthedogdie.com. (And we even get to see the dog again later!)
There is also injury to a horse that horse-lovers will be upset about.
To provide some reassurance for nervous mothers in the audience, Grace – although potentially putting her son into neglectful situations – appears to have no intention of physically hurting him. “I don’t have a problem attaching to my son…”, she states, “…he’s perfect. It’s everything else that’s fucked up”.
Some seriously jumpy jumps.
Hats off to the editors, Toni Froschhammer and Adam Biskupski, since there are some jump scares in this one that really delivered the goods. Some of Grace’s actions, for example in an excruciating to watch bathroom scene, are extreme and self-harming. (One note to continuity in that scene though: if you wrench a basin off the wall and water spurts everywhere, it’s not going to suddenly stop flooding the place unless someone physically turns the water off!)
Lynne Ramsay directs with style and the choice of the 4:3 ratio (does it actually constrict as the film progresses?) adds to the feeling of tension and claustrophobia.
Summary Thoughts:
It’s a film that I can appreciate is well made, but its not a film I warmed to in the slightest. I felt no empathy for any of the characters and positively disliked Grace. I guess much of her behaviour was down to her mental condition, which perhaps says something about me and my tolerance. But it’s not a film I can really say I enjoyed watching.
“Die My Love” is set for a UK release from November 7th, 2025. Not one I will be intending to rewatch though.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jzXHW6Qe70.
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