Jennifer Lawrence Gives Everything to Die My Love
Lynne Ramsay’s film is an extraordinary adaptation of an intense story about a life unraveling.
The Source Novel
Die, My Love, the acclaimed debut novel by Ariana Harwicz, an Argentinian writer living in France, was published in 2012. The unnamed narrator, who embodies all voices in the novel, reveals her rage, contempt, and frustrated desire as she shares her life story.
- She is a foreigner in the French countryside.
- A stalled writer, angry at the demands of caring for her new baby.
- She despises her husband for his sexual inadequacy.
- She carries on an affair with a married neighbor.
“A breath of irrationality had set fire to my existence,”
The Narrative Tone
After a hospital stay, the narrator seems calmer, but erupts again at her son’s second birthday party:
“I hope you all die, every last one of you… Just die, my love.”
A diagnosis of postpartum psychosis is mentioned but does not fully explain her turmoil. Compared to a wave of similar works about the alienation of motherhood—including last year’s Nightbitch—Die, My Love stands out as particularly extreme.
Contextual Insight
Reviewing Sylvia Plath’s Collected Poems, Philip Larkin noted that her last works are original and impactful but their value depends on how much we value expressing experiences with which we cannot identify and that shock us deeply.
This sentiment resonates with Harwicz’s novel, which forces readers into uncomfortable and raw emotional territory.
Author’s summary: Lynne Ramsay’s film adapts Ariana Harwicz’s intense novel, powerfully portraying the raw and unsettling emotions of a woman struggling with motherhood and identity.