“Why are you talking? Do you ever think about what you’re gonna say or why you’re speaking? Or do you just open your mouth and just blah blah blah blah blah? In about thirty seconds I’ll be gone. We don’t need to speak.”
Die My Love is the latest film by director Lynne Ramsay whose best film is still We Need To Talk About Kevin. I say still is because Die My Love doesn’t live up to the reputation. Ramsay was never quite a linear storyteller and this film is no exception. She loves to dabble in the subtle madness of a situation and here she does much more than dabble and while there are certainly attempts to be nuanced the film rages as out of control as her main character played by Jennifer Lawrence who takes a huge swing and a big chance here. It was the right idea but maybe not quite the right vehicle. Lawrence has been trying to distance herself from the Hunger Games franchise not because that wasn’t good work but she appears to be trying not to get too pigeonholed in her career. as I said, it’s the right call. the problem is that Die My Love is too messy of a film to show much of anything, and trust me anything worth watching about this film lands entirely on the performance of Jennifer Lawrence.
Grace (Lawrence) is a writer, at least that’s what we’re told. I say this because there’s never any real writing going on with Grace. She has just had her first baby with husband Jackson, played by Robert Pattison who knows a little bit about getting out of a typecasting nightmare himself. Of course, this depends on what part of the story is real and when we actually are. I say this because the film moves often through time in what don’t feel as much like flashbacks as they should. By the end of the film I’m not completely sure where in time we actually are. I suspect that’s at least somewhat intended. All we know for sure is that she’s suffering from post-Partum Depression, which is a little like PSTD for new moms.
Lawrence is absolutely captivating in her performance but the problem is it stands out so much that there’s no chemistry here between her and husband Jackson and perhaps that is also intentional. Purposeful or not it doesn’t’ make this a very easy film to watch. I feel almost as if the audience might need some counseling when they have finished watching the film. It’s brutal and Ramsay doesn’t pull any punches and perhaps the best decision she’s made here is staying out of Lawrence’s way. Unfortunately that also appears to be true of the supporting cast. I feel for Pattison here because his only job is to express greater and greater frustration about his wife and her actions. There’s also a pretty good performance from Nick Nolte as Jackson’s father and Sissy Spacek as an aunt who carries around a rifle her hubby used to kill himself by shooting himself in the butt. By the way that’s how Grace and Jackson luck into this rundown rural hillbilly house which might be contributing to the madness here.
There’s no formal storytelling here and I must, once again mention that is likely what was intended. But without a narrative to drive this great performance it just feels like brunt force trauma to me and the audience. I’m not sure what we did to Ramsay to deserve such treatment but she appears determined to bring out some kind of primordial rage. The lack of story does include a couple of threads we might be able to piece together but the film is told from the point of view of an unreliable narrator. Grace might or might not be imagining some or all of what we see here. There’s a mysterious motorcycle rider who appears from time to time who stops to stare at her. Except for one encounter he’s pretty much a phantom and the narrative suggests strongly that he’s not really there. If that’s true what is there for me to believe?
Video
Die My Love is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.331.fullframe. I think the choice is to make the film more intimate but I’m not sure that really worked out so well. The ultra-high-definition 2160p image is arrived at by an HEVC codec with a sweet average bitrate of 85 mbps. It also helps that this was shot on actual 35mm film which is not only native 4K but also provides a nice organic look to the film through the film’s grain and texture. The movie almost looks like it was shot in the 1970’s with an attempt to recreate that kind of vintage film stock. Colors are often either oversaturated or at times nearly monochromatic. The shift helps to create the various moods and emotional beats of the movie. There are a lot of uncomfortable close-ups that reveal more of that filmic texture and detail. The cinematography might be the best thing about this movie and it is reproduced faithfully here.
Audio
The DTS-HD- Master Audio presentation isn’t very aggressive nor is it designed to be such. The dialog and source music is what is being served here and the audio presentation does an average job of delivering that to us here. The subs are quite muted and all of this along with the aspect ratio are intended to be rather close and intimate. That it certainly is.
Special Features
There are no extras but there is a Blu-ray copy of the film included.
Final Thoughts:
There’s no question this is an art film with both stars also being producers. Martin Scorsese is also onboard as a producer and it’s actually a bit evident in some close-up scenes of Lawrence looking at herself in a mirror. It can’t help but provide shades of DeNiro’s character in Taxi Driver. There’s not much else to report beyond the sheer brutal and visceral nature of the material. If there had been just a little meat to go with those potatoes , “Maybe I’d write something…maybe”.
