Shadows on the Wall | Die My Love

Die My Love

Review by Rich Cline | MUST SEE

dir Lynne Ramsay
scr Enda Walsh, Lynne Ramsay, Alice Birch
prd Martin Scorsese, Jennifer Lawrence, Justine Ciarrocchi, Molly Smith, Thad Luckinbill, Trent Luckinbill
with Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Nolte, LaKeith Stanfield, Tom Carey, Gabrielle Rose, Clare Coulter, Luke Camilleri, Phillip Forest Lewitski, Sarah Lind, Zoe Cross
release US/UK 7.Nov.25
25/Canada 1h59

CANNES FILM FEST

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Gifted director Lynne Ramsay takes a boldly observant approach to the feelings of being new parents in an inventive, unapologetic film that forces the viewer to lean into the story, even though we might not want to. At the centre, Jennifer Lawrence gives a powerfully raw performance as a woman who doesn't know why she's struggling under the weight of new motherhood. And where it goes is stunning.

Inheriting an uncle's old country house, Grace (Lawrence) and Jackson (Pattinson) have a lively, sexy, music-filled life together before the birth of their son. Now Grace is finding it difficult to be maternal, and she doesn't feel like she getting back to her writing either. She certainly has no patience for anything expected of her as a mother. And Jackson gets on with things, going to work, looking at the stars and surprising her with a yappy puppy. So Grace begins having some very dark thoughts, especially when mysterious biker neighbour Karl (Stanfield) turns up.

"Everybody goes a little loopy in the first year," says Jackson's mother Pam (Spacek), who lives nearby as her husband (Nolte) slips into dementia. But this is far more than writer's block for Grace, who sees everything around her as unbalanced, such as how their previously rampant sex life has simply evaporated. Most remarkable is how Grace's increasing irritability is hugely understandable, including some of her more shocking actions and reactions, because of Ramsay's direction and Lawrence's performance.

Flashbacks offer earlier glimpses of the relationship and pregnancy. With transparency and a sometimes unnerving intensity, Lawrence skilfully reveals this intelligent, focussed woman as a bundle of emotions and intentionality. She puts her full physicality into Grace's often heart-stopping behaviour. Pattinson is also excellent as Jackson, who doesn't get it and perhaps isn't trying hard enough. He's increasingly stressed out by his inability to help, but he's also patient and hopeful. Glimpses of the fire between them are vivid.

Ramsay and Lawrence get so far under Grace's skin that the film is often difficult to watch. It's also beautiful to look at, strikingly shot by Seamus McGarvey and sharply edited by Toni Froschhammer to find little hints and insinuations in everyday scenes. It's rare to see a film deal with a topic like postnatal depression at all, let alone in a way that's so sympathetic and compelling. And the final half hour shifts gears to become even more introspective and provocative, a collision of feelings that don't need to be explained.

themes, language, violence, sexuality 8.Nov.25

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