Lynne Ramsay’s Die My Love Explores Marriage and Isolation

In May at the Cannes Film Festival, Lin Remsi presented Die My Love. A few days later she addressed critics with the remark: their understanding of the film did not align with the author’s intent.

The adaptation is based on Ariana Harwich’s novel, which was published in 2012. At the heart of the story is a couple facing the dissolution of their marriage and a sense of isolation in rural Montana, where they raise a six-month-old son. Journalists noted Lawrence’s expressive performance as Grace, a writer going through a crisis, and mentioned various mental-health diagnoses. Remsi called “this postpartum period” “nonsense”.

Six months later, she maintained that stance: the story isn’t reduced to a single simple explanation, but reveals the rupture in the relationship, isolation, loneliness, and the exhaustion of creative energy.

«People like to put everything into their little labels to make it easy to say: “This is about this.” But I don’t think the film boils down to that alone. It’s about the breakdown of their marriage, her isolation, her loneliness, and the exhaustion of creativity, the exhaustion of sexuality, and all of it seems to be collapsing. I think it’s too simplistic to say that it’s just “this.”

Meanwhile the team worked to bring humor to the film and expand Grace’s partner – Jackson’s – role, portrayed by Robert Pattinson and other actors; Martin Scorsese became the producer as part of the crew. Remsi, together with co-writers Edna Walsh and Alice Birch, moved the action from France to the United States, adding new touches and humor to the story.

«This is a fairly surreal novel. It is nonlinear. It wasn’t an easy adaptation. I had to find my own path in it before full commitment… I told Jennifer: “I’ll try to do this my way. We’ll see how it goes,” and they really loved it.»

Remsi emphasizes that the process of gathering material demanded discipline at the early stages and freedom to experiment on set. “Jennifer was fully in character, and it never felt like we needed to anticipate her steps,” she recalls.

After production wrapped, Die My Love opened in wide release in the United States and the United Kingdom, and is distributed worldwide via the MUBI service.

Key Moments and Impact

The film focuses on delicate relationships, alienation, and the search for meaning against a backdrop of crisis, while adding humor and expanding Grace’s role to convey new shades of the story.