JLaw is over. That’s the name for a cute It Girl of Hollywood, doing romcoms and living a vain celebrity life. JLaw could never have made Die My Love. Thank goodness Jennifer Lawrence the actor decided to give it a go instead, and we’re all the better, wiser, and sicker for it.
Lawrence plays Grace, a new mother to a baby boy she hasn’t named yet. Her husband Jackson (Robert Pattinson) buys a house for his family, but is off to work on the road a lot, leaving Grace alone to care for the baby. She gets little pieces of time with Jackson’s parents Pam (Sissy Spacek) and Harry (Nick Nolte), but otherwise, she’s stuck. With the baby. By Herself. In that house.
Sound’s like the makings of a paranoid thriller right? But as most moms going through postpartum depression can attest, that’s how it feels. Grace’s days all blend together: a routine of little sleep, dealing with a crying baby and a barking dog, and no energy left when the one person in your life gets home. Plus, there’s body frustrations everywhere that can’t satisfy the baby, or attract maybe your husband, leaving Grace to hate herself even more. This doom spiral escalates to the point that she can’t be bothered to do anything other than care for the baby. Not helping is Jackson, who doesn’t understand why his wife at home all day can barely clean the house or do even basic dishware cleanup. What little hope is left getting out of that rut fizzles immediately, as Grace’s state prevents her from dealing with any new situation either. Lynne Ramsay shoots all of this as if we’re deep in Grace’s psyche, knowing what is happening isn’t right but being emotionally powerless to do anything about it.
I was of the belief that Jennifer Lawrence’s destiny was to be some sort of comedic movie actress, using her gift of gab and physical humor to delight audiences everywhere. I’m sorry I discounted that Oscar win as an aberration of the truth, because that type of performance is in her too. She’s one of the most fearless actress’s working today, unafraid to do whatever the movie needs to deliver the story she wants to tell. Die My Love combines all parts of the actress into one: all those funny quips are there, as well as the physical sight gags, just used instead to tell a tale of a desperate despairing person. You can feel the numbness setting in for Grace because of what Jennifer Lawrence does here, something only the bravest and most talented of actresses could pull of in a way that keeps the movie compelling and somewhat watchable about a sickness that’s really hard to endure.
Word on the street is that a Ms. Piggy movie is coming next for Jennifer Lawrence. We can see JLaw in that one. But Die My Love is a reminder that Lawrence is more than the press junket she’s killing, she’s a real actress unafraid of anything. And blowing Robert Pattinson off the screen, something that only the best actors could pull off, like her. Guess Edward Cullen is back to cuckold status again. Zing!