It starts off all somewhat hopeful. Beautiful young couple Grace (Jennifer Lawrence) and Jackson (Robert Pattinson) move from New York City to some isolated dot on the map in Montana, into a house in need of a lot of repairs. Still, they can’t keep their hands off one another and have a pretty hot and wild relationship. But after they settle in, and he gets a job leaving her home alone and pregnant, things start to go downhill. Especially after she has a baby. She was a writer in her former life and the thought was that she’d have a lot of time to work on her novel, but she has no interest. She does have time, but the baby is all she can manage. And then comes a serious case of postpartum depression, which looks a whole lot like mama’s gone cray cray!
Director Lynne Ramsay loves to make psychological dramas populated by people in distress. Her breakout film We Need To Talk About Kevin centered on a mother’s hellish relationship with her evil son. You Were Never really Here featured a man consumed by his own demons tracking down a sex trafficked girl. Both of those films had you feeling that something horrible was about to happen for nearly the whole running time. And it is no different here. Grace is so close to the edge of sanity that a feather could push her over, and you’re just holding your breath.
The reason to see the film is Jennifer Lawrence’s performance. The plot is pretty mundane. The usual young couple stuff. Lust that ebbs with the birth of the baby. Household business and hubby being away. An affair that doesn’t mean anything. Meeting the new community. But as you watch her descend into madness, you’re also anticipating what might set her off. And Jackson is pretty clueless.
To say that she descends into madness may be a stretch. She’s a bit of a cuckoo from the beginning. So there really isn’t that much of an arc to speak of, just a kind of a yo-yo. And that is the problem for me with the film. As great as Lawrence is, I did not care for a second about her. She’s unredeemable and walking straight towards her inevitable flame out. The film is an adaptation and apparently the book gives you insight into her inner life. Maybe if Ramsay had been able to do that, she’d have a better film.
I’m not at all sure who the audience for this is. I read somewhere that it was described as having dark comedy elements, but I failed to see any of them. And I can’t say that I would recommend it, except for the fact that it may get some awards season attention for Lawrence and the cinematography.
In theaters now.