Film truly has the opportunity to reach just you. Depending on where you are in your life at any given moment, watching the right film is like feeling seen and heard by some unknown force. Something put this film in my path at this exact moment in time. You could be going through a break up, and be far more affected by a film about two people falling in love, or two people also breaking up. you could be experiencing a loss, and at the same time watch a film about a similar situation. When this happens, it alters your perspective a bit, skewing it one way of the other. This happened to me with Die My Love, not because I have postpartum depression, but rather because I’m in one of those moments where I feel stressed and depressed, like my skin want to fly off my body. So seeing Jennifer Lawrence walking around like a cat just felt like what would be the next logical step for me.

Directed by Lynn Ramsey, an auteur with rather uncompromising ideas about what an audience should be able to sit through to get to some deeper truth, Die My Love is a showcase for Jennifer Lawrence. If you’ve seen ramsey’s last few films, you’ll know she takes care to put an actor front and center. it’s actually surprising how Joaquin Phoenix wasn’t nominated for You Were Never Really Here, and Tilda Swinton for We Need To Talk About Kevin. Two knockout performances in dark deeply disturbing films.I would say, compared to her other work, Ramsey seems to have lightened up a bit.

The story behind this is that Martin Scorsese (credited here as a producer) read the initial book on which the film is based in his book club, and thought of Jennifer Lawrence. that’s how the ball got rolling. I’m not sure what Martin Scorsese sees in Jennifer Lawrence, but it is even more interesting considering they’ve never worked together. But, we’ve swapped some things around, and made it American. Lawrence plays a young woman who moves with her partner (Robert Pattinson) to a new home, which used to be owned by his uncle. he lives rather freakishly close now to his parents (Sissy Spacek/Nick Nolte), which might work out since we see Lawrence is pregnant, and expecting.From there, we get a baby, a young couple trying to figure it all out, and Jennifer Lawrence going through the seven circles of mental health struggles. She’s not OK, and it isn’t just postpartum. There’s something else here, and ramsey’s toying with the narrative adds to the lack of comfort you’ll feel while watching.

We always talk about linear and non-linear storytelling, and this is more its own other thing. it is like a whimsical storytelling, with sequences out of order, and the very strong possibility certain things never happen. Like, is there really a mysterious biker *(Lakeith Stanfield)? Lawrence bounces all around, and is totally uninhibited by anything. She’s clearly feeling free as a bird to do anything in this film, from being naked quite a bit, to crawling around like an animal, and doing her best imitation of a former Dakotan governor. yes, sorry guys, but you might want to take a look at the website Does the Dog Die? It doesn’t help that Pattinson’s husband brings home the noisiest dog into an already stressful situation.

Audiences are rejecting this film, and I’m not surprised. this is not for everyone. If you loved Jennifer Lawrence in Hunger Games, and really only that, you’ll hate this. She’s trying to be the antithesis of everything she’s been up until this point. Hollywood darling? Not anymore. Too young? She’s grown up now. Lawrence has something she wanted to achieve through this, and she must have.

The supporting cast is strong, with Sissy Spacek using her legendary status to be the leader of the pack. I loved all of her scenes, and the juxtaposition of her going through her own stuff, but still not breaking with sanity quite like her daughter in law. Nolte is in the film for about five minutes, but he’s solid in all of his screentime. Pattinson has had more challenging roles, and really has to take a backseat to Lawrence anyway. Stanfield is really underutilized.

the audio description track by Deluxe was solid, describing all sorts of random things going on. My little giggle came from the line where they said Lawrence’s character goes to “stand by her man”. I could hear the song. it just cued it up in my head.

It might just be me, and that’s Ok. But this was one of my favorite watches this year. I’ve seen it twice, once without audio description, and once with. I actually believe the film is best enjoyed with the willingness to go at it again, which is why I’m not sure about awards chances. Die My Love has so many angles and layers, it begs to be watched a second time. But will you?

Much like Ramsey has done in the past, she once again crafts a challenging drama with a lead tour de force, this time from Jennifer Lawrence, who clearly is not holding back anything anymore ever again. It is her best performance in years.

Fresh: Final grade: 8.5/10