The cast of Lynne Ramsay‘s Die, My Love got vulnerable about how parenthood has changed their lives while speaking at the movie’s Sunday press conference.
The talent came straight from the Palais premiere Saturday night — where they were recipients of a warm six-minute standing ovation — to The Hollywood Reporter-hosted afterparty at Cannes hotspot Salama.
The film, an adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s 2017 novel of the same name — with the action relocated from France to Montana — was co-written and directed by Scotswoman Ramsay and was co-produced by Lawrence in her most ambitious performance in years. Through the two-hour film, Lawrence plays a new mother (Grace) who develops postpartum depression and begins going in and out of psychosis.
Robert Pattinson plays her husband, Jackson, Sissy Spacek and Nick Nolte play his parents, and Oscar nominee Lakeith Stanfield also stars.
Lawrence — mother to two children now — was visibly emotional talking about working with Ramsay on the subject matter. “It was really hard to separate what I would do as opposed to what [Grace] would do… Extreme anxiety and extreme depression is isolating. No matter where you are, you feel like an alien, and so it deeply moved me. I’ve wanted to work with Lynne Ramsay since I saw Ratcatcher (1999) and I was like, ‘There’s no way.’ But we took a chance, and we sent it to her. And I really, I cannot believe that I’m here with you,” said Lawrence as the two embraced.
Pattinson said about working with Ramsay: “I didn’t find anything particularly hard. This was someone I’ve always wanted to work with, and you create an atmosphere on set where I don’t need to really describe things as like, hard or easy. It’s quite an unusual environment. But when you trust your director so much… you create an aura on set where you’re being led in the direction. You don’t really know exactly where it is, but to trust the director so much.”
Lawrence and Pattinson were asked about how having children (Pattinson shares a child with British star Suki Waterhouse) has changed their careers. “Having children changes everything,” Lawrence said. “It changes your whole life, but it’s brutal and incredible.”
“I didn’t know that I could feel so much, and my job has a lot to do with emotion, and they’ve opened up the world to me. It’s almost like a blister or something, so sensitive. So they’ve changed my life, obviously, for the best, and they’ve changed me creatively,” said Lawrence. She added, prompting laughter: “I highly recommend having kids if you want to be an actor.”
Said Pattinson: “I think in the most unexpected way, having a baby gives you the biggest trove of energy and inspiration afterwards.” Lawrence cut in: “You get energy?”
Pattinson continued: “It’s impossible for a guy to answer correctly! I’m just here to support… Ever since she was born, it’s reinvigorated the way I approach work and, yeah, you’re a completed person.”
Ramsay said about finding a way “in” to Harwicz’s novel: “The subject matter was about postpartum, but it also was intended to be stuck creatively in dreams and fantasies, sex and passion… So I thought, ‘Maybe I can do this.’ And then I was like, ‘Well, I’m going to try it. I don’t know if it’s going to work.’ And then I saw it a bit more like a love story, and that gave me an in.”
THR‘s chief film critic David Rooney called the film a “jarring character study” and, at times, “a bit of a trudge.” He continued: “Ramsay’s film is hard to love, but that beautiful visual casts such an intense glow it pulls the whole unwieldy thing together.”
