Lynn Ramsay’s “Die My Love” is the most recent endurance take a look at from the Scottish filmmaker who had me along with her beautiful “Ratcatcher” (1999) and misplaced me along with her subsequent work.
After we meet Grace (Jennifer Lawrence), she is crawling by means of a subject and holding a butcher knife. Her husband, Jackson (Robert Pattinson), who can also be the daddy of her youngster, engages Grace with affection but additionally fights her verbally and bodily.
Grace hasn’t been the identical because the start of her youngster, and a wildness inside them causes their house to turn out to be a setting for one loopy outburst and surprising act after one other.
Publish-“Ratcatcher,” Ramsay’s movies are all the time visually hanging but additionally unbearable, self-indulgent and imply. I hated Ramsay’s 2011 “We Must Speak About Kevin,” which gave a tasteless, self-consciously arthouse spin on the subject of college shootings.
Ramsay likes her characters way over her viewers.
The 2 leads give snarling performances, the sort that’s riveting to observe in an performing workshop however an excessive amount of when the digital camera goes for a close-up.
“Die My Love” begins with the dial cranked as much as CRAZY and simply retains going. There’s no actual story. You simply sit and await one thing dangerous to occur, and the movie by no means disappoints.
The soundtrack irritates as a lot as this couple. Until you’re a die-hard fan of the leads, this is without doubt one of the greatest film endurance exams of 2025.
Jennifer Lawrence on portraying motherhood in Die My Love. #LFF pic.twitter.com/5ekeaY7Dua
— BFI (@BFI) October 17, 2025
Earlier than the primary hour is over, I’ve seen Lawrence crawl on all fours, lick a windowpane, make infantile faces, mock her canine, masturbate, scream and make much more faces. Pattinson, to not be outdone, paces round like he’s in a farce, makes faces at Lawrence and reverts to his terrible “Twilight” American accent.
A greater title for this than “Die My Love” is “When Actors Assault.” This film is a freak present and I hate that the enchantment of working with Ramsay pulled in two unbelievable actors who needs to be past making low-budget junk like this. Lawrence and Pattinson are at some extent of their careers the place they are often a lot choosier than a decade in the past.
Lawrence doesn’t want one other “Home on the Finish of the Road” (2012) or “Serena” (2014) and Pattinson has, hopefully, graduated from the likes of “Little Ashes” (2009) and “Keep in mind Me” (2010). Each actors deserve the acclaim they’ve acquired, as they’re reliably nice in nearly every part. “Die My Love” will not be worthy of them and can hopefully turn out to be a footnote.
The scenes with Sissy Spacek and Nick Nolte are such a breath of contemporary air, as they floor their characters and justify their presence within the story.
Lawrence’s greatest second comes late within the movie, when she makes a confession relating to her dad and mom. She’s compelling within the scene as a result of, aside from every part that got here earlier than it, Lawrence seems to be invested in her character and never simply winging it by means of one more scene the place she acts bananas.
A secret that almost all actors don’t share is that it’s not troublesome to behave “loopy.” It’s truly a lot more durable to convey “regular” and decide to the expansion and nuances of a personality.
Some actresses who’ve offered grasp lessons enjoying ladies turning into unglued are Elizabeth Taylor in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” (1966), Kathy Bates in “Distress” (1990) and Isabelle Adjani in “Possession” (1981), to call just some. There was nuance and management to these performances.
Nothing Lawrence or Pattinson does right here approaches that. Right here’s one other rule of performing, notably if you’re improvising: not each intuition is an efficient one.
“Die My Love” has some splendid visuals and is so completely bonkers that it’s by no means uninteresting. Ramsay has a lot of expertise, and I’ll revisit “Ratcatcher” once more however I’m rising uninterested in her latest cinematic torture periods.
Lawrence’s efficiency in Darren Aronofsky’s “Mom!” (2017) and that movie’s state of affairs of going mad in an remoted setting, far outshines every part on this film.
In truth, “Mom!,” all is forgiven.
One Star