Broncho Movie Breakdown: Die My Love, A Fictional Tale of A True Horror: Postpartum Depression

“Die My Love” is a film by Lynne Ramsey starring two of the biggest names since their breakout franchises, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, and is based on the novel “Die, My Love” by Ariana Harwicz. 

The movie explores the journey of Gracie (Lawrence) and Jackson (Pattinson) as the couple navigates life after moving to rural Montana and welcoming home their newborn, Harry. Lawrence performs a gut-wrenchingly raw performance as a woman suffering from Postpartum Depression that rapidly descends into psychosis.

The film highlights the isolation often felt by new mothers, especially those with no support system.

The distance only grows between the couple since the baby was born, and Jackson’s infidelity and unwillingness to sympathize allow Gracie’s condition only to get worse throughout the film. 

The sound in this movie plays a major role, with some moments being entirely silent to a suddenly jarring explosion of noise. This reflects the unpredictability of suffering from PPD, where moments can range from ease to overwhelming chaos. 

This movie was like a contemporary revisit to one of the oldest pieces of feminist literature, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. A short story of a woman’s mental breakdown proceeding after childbirth, accompanied by an unencumbered husband.

The yellow wallpaper is the focus of the protagonist’s delusions and ends with her ripping it off the wall. This was referenced in “Die My Love” when, during one of Gracie’s episodes, she destroys the bathroom, including clawing off the wallpaper. 

While Pattinson portrays a concerned husband, he remains unfaithful and does not offer any solution until the problems completely boil over. His gestures show that he does, in fact love his wife but cannot understand her, which renders them useless.

With heavy subject matter at hand, the movie is at the same time darkly comedic, with many of the fiery arguments between the couple earning laughter from the audience due to clever insults.

It is unfortunate that over a hundred years after the release of “The Yellow Wallpaper,” PPD is still something that goes ignored in women and can lead to detrimental, even fatal effects. This movie puts a still necessary spotlight on the disorder with Lawrence’s devastating portrayal.