Die My Love’s most effective needle drop is John Prine and Iris DeMent’s modern country number “In Spite of Ourselves”, a wistful and lightly raunchy his-and-hers duet sung along to by its stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson at a key late-film moment. It’s a mild musical respite in what is otherwise a howling hurricane of a movie, orchestrated through Scottish director Lynne Ramsay’s trademark dynamism and visual boldness, following Lawrence as a new mother and unwilling stay-at-home spouse gradually succumbing to mental illness. Premiering in competition at Cannes this May and now seeing a release by MUBI in major global territories, it’s not a film you merely watch, so much as one that you will be swallowed up and spat out by, with the depth of its insights and overall efficacy faltering amidst its churning rhythms.

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With Lawrence also originating the project as its lead producer alongside Martin Scorsese (who recommended Ariana Harwicz’s source novel to her), she embodies the absolute focal point of this engaging yet often-taxing film, being the most iconic and recognisable actor Ramsay has collaborated with to date. Her star presence doesn’t unbalance the movie, but it does put all of its elements and energies in thrall to her – it’s a strong, commanding performance, if self-conscious in so clearly aiming to display a virtuoso command of her acting skillset, simulating the spontaneous turns and unpredictability of a fraying mind.

Lawrence and Pattinson are long-term couple Grace and Jackson, respectively a writer and musician who’ve decamped from New York to the latter’s rural hometown in Montana to start a family and hopefully commence some undistracted work on their artistic projects. Soon, a baby boy (notably unnamed) arrives, and in their isolation and solitude as a family unit, Grace’s dissatisfaction with her existence leads to a gradual detachment from reality, and eventually dangerous and self-harming behaviour. Whilst this occurring in the aftermath of childbirth would suggest a clinical labelling of postpartum depression, the cause and effects are more multi-faceted than this: Grace isn’t only lashing out at the stasis demanded by early motherhood, as much as the imbalances created by a traditional monogamous partnership, and the imprisoning nature of her Middle American domestic life. The charisma of Lawrence’s breakout roles also enjoys an acidic variation, seen, for one, in the film’s epilogue parodying a “happily ever after” scenario of marital bliss, as Grace sardonically thanks Jackson for committing her – the honeymoon gift of her dreams.

These themes partner with Ramsay’s stylistic gifts for evoking psychic instability, with the insistent soundscape of up-tempo music (from early rhythm and blues to punk), concussive cuts and swells of sudden colour all keeping us chained to Grace’s perspective. The impact is bracing, but its room to manoeuvre still feels constrained and narrow, as it is lacking in richer psychological elaboration. Upon reading Harwicz’s book after Lawrence’s pitch, Ramsay wasn’t sure it could be adapted effectively; all of her films following her great breakthrough, Ratcatcher, have been derived from novels, often masterfully creating visual correlatives for literary narration. Burdened as well as sustained by her maximalist aesthetic choices, Die My Love is unevenly executed, sadly bearing out her hesitation as to its potential.

Die My Love is a co-production by the USA, UK and Canada, staged by Black Label Media, Excellent Cadaver, Sikelia Productions and Potboiler Productions. 193 handles its international sales, and MUBI is distributing it in a number of major territories.