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Mubi Bets $24M on Jennifer Lawrence’s Die My Love—Director Ramsay Says Critics Are Getting It All Wrong
Lynne Ramsay isn’t mincing words at Cannes. As her new film Die My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, earns standing ovations and a record-breaking $24 million Mubi deal, critics have pegged it as a story about postpartum depression. Ramsay’s fiery response? “This postpartum thing is bulls***.” According to the director, the film is about love unraveling, identity cracking, and sex disappearing after motherhood—not just a mental health label. Bold, raw, and already being talked about as an Oscar contender, Die My Love is proving impossible to ignore—and so is Ramsay’s unapologetic vision.
Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay isn’t here for the easy takes. Her latest feature, Die My Love, premiered to a divided yet captivated audience at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, igniting critical debate and a significant industry deal. But Ramsay is pushing back hard against what she calls a “misreading” of the film. Starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, Die My Love is based on the 2017 novel by Ariana Harwicz. It follows a couple who trade their privileged lives in New York for a quieter existence in rural Montana, only to find their passionate bond unravelling in the wake of new parenthood. The supporting cast includes LaKeith Stanfield, Sissy Spacek, and Nick Nolte. Lynne Ramsay directed the film from a script she co-wrote with Enda Walsh and Alice Birch.
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“This whole postpartum thing is just bull****,” Lynne Ramsay said candidly during a Cannes fireside chat with veteran film journalist Elvis Mitchell. “It’s not about that. It’s about a relationship breaking down, about love breaking down, and sex breaking down after having a baby. And it’s also about a creative block.”
Despite a nine-minute standing ovation at its Cannes premiere, Die My Love has sparked contentious interpretation, particularly around its portrayal of motherhood. Lynne Ramsay, known for her haunting 2011 film We Need to Talk About Kevin, was quick to clarify: Die My Love is not about postpartum depression.
“People want to reduce it to one idea, one label,” she said. “But this is about fractured identity and the unraveling of a woman—not a diagnosis.”
Jennifer Lawrence, who also serves as a producer through her company Excellent Cadaver, was instrumental in getting the film made. Ramsay revealed that Lawrence initially reached out to her, but the director took time to respond. “I didn’t get back to her for six months,” Lynne Ramsay admitted. “I wanted to do something light. People like to box you in. But she kept coming back and eventually suggested Die My Love. That’s when things clicked.”
The film also made headlines off the screen with Mubi acquiring global rights in a landmark $24 million deal—the platform’s largest acquisition to date. The deal includes a full 45-day theatrical run across 1,500 screens in major markets including North America, Europe, Latin America, India, and Australia.
With its emotionally raw performances and Lynnne Ramsay’s trademark visual intensity, Die My Love continues to stir conversation on the Croisette and beyond. But if there’s one takeaway the filmmaker wants audiences and critics alike to understand, it’s that her film resists simplification.
“I don’t make films that are easy to categorise,” Lynne Ramsay said. “And I’m not about to start now.”
As Die My Love builds Oscar buzz and heads into theatrical release, Lynne Ramsay’s voice remains as bold and uncompromising as the films she makes.
