\n Six months later, she can\u2019t believe she phrased it that way, but she stands by it.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cPeople love to sit and have their little pigeonhole, just to make it easy to say in a couple of words: \u2018It\u2019s about this,\u2019\u201d she told CNN in a recent interview. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t think (the film) is just about that. It\u2019s about their marriage breaking down, her being isolated, her loneliness and her creativity drying up, the sex drying up, and everything kind of imploding. I think it\u2019s too reductive just to say it\u2019s \u2018that.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s a curious paradox that as an artist, the two-tine BAFTA winner felt the need to intervene and say what her film was about to preserve space for interpretation. But that\u2019s Ramsay; she\u2019s not one for neat explanations, on or off-screen.\n <\/p>\n
\n The writer-director is not prolific \u2013 it\u2019s been eight years since \u201cYou Were Never Really Here\u201d starring Joaquin Phoenix as a tortured mercenary rescuing trafficked children. Before that, there was \u201cWe Need to Talk About Kevin\u201d (2011), \u201cMorvern Callar\u201d (2002) and \u201cRatcatcher\u201d (1999). Each movie Ramsay releases is something of an event among cinephiles who appreciate her work, and her fans inside the industry include Lawrence and Martin Scorsese.\n <\/p>\n
\n Scorsese, who serves as a producer on \u201cDie My Love,\u201d read Harwicz\u2019s novel as part of a book club and shared it with Lawrence. The actress \u2013 one half of production company Excellent Cadaver alongside Justine Ciarrocchi \u2013 reached out to Ramsay about the idea of adapting and directing. \u201cShe just kept emailing me,\u201d Ramsay recalled. \u201cThey were so super keen.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
![\"Filmmaker](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/diemylove-bts-still2-mubi-credit-kimberley-french.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s quite a surreal novel. It\u2019s non-linear. It was not an easy adaptation,\u201d she added. \u201cI had to find my own way into it before totally committing \u2026 I said to Jennifer, \u2018I\u2019m going to try it my way. Let\u2019s see how it goes,\u2019 and they really loved it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The filmmaker was quickly enchanted by Lawrence. \u201cShe\u2019s pretty unapologetic and a bit childlike at times,\u201d Ramsay said of the Oscar winner. \u201cShe\u2019s frustrated at all these different things. I hadn\u2019t really read a part like that \u2026 It\u2019s not like you\u2019re trying to engage sympathy (for her).\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Ramsay and fellow scriptwriters Edna Walsh and Alice Birch decamped the story from France to the US, added some humor and fleshed out the role of Grace\u2019s partner, Jackson. Lawrence took the lead, adding Pattinson as Jackson, Sissy Spacek and Nick Nolte as Jackson\u2019s parents, with LaKeith Stanfield supporting as a mysterious stranger. Then they all got to work ahead of production in Calgary, Canada.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI got (Lawrence and Pattinson) together as early as I could, got them doing expressive dance classes and crazy things \u2026 making them a bit embarrassed and getting over that embarrassment,\u201d said Ramsay of their preparations.\n <\/p>\n
\n On the first day of filming, she had the duo perform the chaotic sex scene that kickstarts the movie \u2013 \u201ca bit risky, but it totally broke the ice,\u201d she remembered. From there on, she tried to shoot the film as chronologically as possible.\n <\/p>\n
\n In the film, Grace\u2019s unravelling takes almost no time at all. Frequently abandoned by Jackson, she lashes out in all directions, including herself. She gripes, \u201cA real mom would have baked a cake\u201d for their son\u2019s half-birthday, then snaps at a cashier (\u201cFind everything you were looking for?\u201d says the worker. \u201cIn life?\u201d Grace sneers). She believes Jackson is having an affair (not without evidence) and she\u2019s crippled by boredom, keeping the baby up for company and spilling breast milk on the blank pages of what might have been a new book she was meant to be writing. Meanwhile, her well-meaning mother-in-law gently says of motherhood, \u201cEveryone goes a little loopy the first year.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
![\"Lawrence](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/diemylove-still16-mubi-credit-kimberley-french-copy.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n It\u2019s been well publicized that Lawrence was pregnant with her second child while filming. On screen, the part of Grace looks physically demanding: She wrestles Jackson, destroys a bathroom, masturbates with a knife in hand and runs through a glass door, to name only a few moments in the film. She\u2019s also frequently nude. Lawrence was game for everything, said her director. \u201cI don\u2019t think she wanted to be wrapped in cotton wool,\u201d said Ramsay.\n <\/p>\n
\n The director said her process is to instill discipline in the front end of pre-production and allow for experimentation on set. No hitting marks. Takes ran long, pushing the actors to improvise.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cJennifer was inside the character, and you never knew what to expect, which is lovely,\u201d said Ramsay.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI said, \u2018Walk up to the window,\u2019 and she walked up to the window and licked (it) like a wild animal trapped. I was like, \u2018Wow.\u2019\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Sex, or lack thereof, is a dull ache for long stretches of the film, as Grace\u2019s desire goes unfulfilled by Jackson. \u201cShe\u2019s a sexual animal,\u201d said Ramsay. \u201cShe wants to be with him and he\u2019s rejecting her, and she feels invisible.\u201d That perspective, she added, is one seen more in men than women in cinema, and a key aspect of the novel she wanted to maintain.\n <\/p>\n
\n A confluence of factors leads to Grace being committed by Jackson and separated from her child: a wrenching turn in a film full of shocking moments.\n <\/p>\n
\n I shared with Ramsay how I\u2019d first watched her movie at an early morning press screening at the Cannes Film Festival. It was the first time I\u2019d been away from my baby, I said, and it was a lot to take in. I couldn\u2019t imagine what it was like for the actors \u2013 both new parents themselves \u2013 to live out their parts.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI always feel sorry for people who see my films at 8am,\u201d said Ramsay, grimacing slightly.\n <\/p>\n
\n But the director wants to offer audiences some hope \u2013 particularly about the film\u2019s ending.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Lawrence](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/diemylove-still9-mubi-credit-kimberley-french.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Though Grace returns to the family fold, their reconciliation is uneasy. \u201cEnough,\u201d she eventually says, before walking into the forest and setting her notebook, the forest and possibly herself ablaze, as Jackson follows behind.\n <\/p>\n
\n Even here, the filmmaker sees it as a love story. \u201cIt\u2019s not a literal ending,\u201d Ramsay stressed. \u201cI think it\u2019s her character setting her work on fire, the world on fire, and him still wanting to be with her.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n While Lawrence is getting Oscar buzz for her daring work in the movie, Ramsay has a bit of trepidation around the more industry-tinged side of things, including box office and award campaigns.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cYou always want people to go and see your movie, of course,\u201d she said. \u201cBut to me, it\u2019s about whether the film\u2019s around down the line. That always tells you the film\u2019s got staying power. If people are still watching your films 20 years later, then you know it\u2019s still relevant. And I think I\u2019ve been lucky enough with some of my films that people still want to watch them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cTo me,\u201d she added, \u201cthat\u2019s the real deal. Not prizes. It\u2019s whether it lasts the test of time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cDie My Love\u201d is on wide release in the US and UK, and distributed by MUBI worldwide.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDITOR\u2019S NOTE:\u00a0 The following story contains spoilers for \u201cDie My Love.\u201d Back in May, Lynne Ramsay debuted her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":{"0":"post-287516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}