# Die, My Love

**Die, My Love** is the English title of *Matate, amor* (Matate, amor), a 2012 debut novel by the Argentine writer Ariana Harwicz: the interior monologue of an unnamed woman in rural France whose marriage and motherhood push her toward violence and delirium. Translated into English by Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff for the Scottish publisher Charco Press in 2017, it was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2018 and adapted into a feature film directed by [Lynne Ramsay](https://www.edgepedia.org/lynne-ramsay) that premiered in [Competition](https://www.edgepedia.org/competition) at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.<sup>[1](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/17/feebleminded-ariana-harwicz-review)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/22/die-my-love-ariana-harwicz-review)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/die-my-love/)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original publication | *Matate, amor*, published in Argentina in 2012 by the independent Buenos Aires press Paradiso; Harwicz borrowed money from her father to pay for an edition of 300 copies<sup>[4](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/de-la-autoedicion-a-hollywood-el-derrotero-de-la-primera-novela-de-ariana-harwicz-que-llego-al-nid19052025/)</sup> |
| English edition | Translated by Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff, Charco Press, 2017; one of the press's two inaugural titles<sup>[5](https://latinamericanliteraturetoday.org/book_review/die-my-love-ariana-harwicz/)</sup> |
| Prize recognition | Longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2018<sup>[1](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/17/feebleminded-ariana-harwicz-review)</sup> |
| Place in Harwicz's work | First of the three novels Harwicz calls an "involuntary trilogy," followed by *La débil mental* (2014) and *Precoz* (2015)<sup>[1](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/17/feebleminded-ariana-harwicz-review)</sup> |
| Film adaptation | *Die My Love*, directed by Lynne Ramsay, 118 minutes, in Competition at Cannes 2025, with Jennifer Lawrence, Robert Pattinson, LaKeith Stanfield, Sissy Spacek, and Nick Nolte<sup>[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/die-my-love/)</sup> |
| Path to the screen | Martin Scorsese read the novel in his book club in the summer of 2020 and sent it to Jennifer Lawrence's production company Excellent Cadaver; he is one of the film's producers<sup>[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/jennifer-lawrence-die-my-love-lynne-ramsay)</sup> |
| Distribution | MUBI acquired distribution rights at Cannes 2025 for US$24 million; theatrical release on November 7, 2025<sup>[7](https://apnews.com/article/fad7585c4b762e73c0557b993c3237e8)</sup> |

## The novel

The book is narrated by an unnamed woman, a self-described "fraud of a country woman," who has followed her idealistic husband into rural France. She battles loneliness, boredom, and the noise of a baby she says she never really wanted, and instead of turning inward she attacks: she tortures insects, takes a lover, and rages against the limits of acceptability. A recurring line captures the book's refusal of acceptable maternal feeling: "I'm a mother, full stop. And I regret it, but I can't even say that."<sup>[2](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/22/die-my-love-ariana-harwicz-review)</sup> The birth of her baby and the death of her father-in-law set off extended meditations on life and death, and the narrator constantly compares herself to the animals that crowd the book.<sup>[5](https://latinamericanliteraturetoday.org/book_review/die-my-love-ariana-harwicz/)</sup>

**Form and voice.** The novel has no conventional plot or clear sequence of external events; it is one uninterrupted thread of thought, written fast, in which it is difficult to tell what is actually happening before the narrator's eyes and what her delirium is manufacturing.<sup>[8](https://www.eltiempo.com/lecturas-dominicales/resena-de-matate-amor-de-la-escritora-argentina-ariana-harwicz-686041)</sup> Its prose has been described as raw, violent, wounding, fragmented, and thorn-like, and the book deconstructs the standardized image of the family and the roles of wife and mother.<sup>[9](https://revistacolofon.com.ar/harwicz-cuando-la-prosa-se-hace-espinas/)</sup> Reviewers have noted a touch of [David Lynch](https://www.edgepedia.org/david-lynch) in its best moments, and Harwicz has drawn comparisons to [Virginia Woolf](https://www.edgepedia.org/virginia-woolf).<sup>[2](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/22/die-my-love-ariana-harwicz-review)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[5](https://latinamericanliteraturetoday.org/book_review/die-my-love-ariana-harwicz/)</sup> The novel opens with the woman lying in the grass beside her country house, the sun forming the image of a knife in her hand, watching her husband and baby before slipping away to spy on them from the undergrowth.<sup>[10](https://casamacondo.co/critica/matate-amor-cine-adaptacion/)</sup>

**Origins.** Harwicz, born in Buenos Aires in 1977, moved to France in 2007, first to Paris and then to the countryside, in a place crossed by a river and vineyards and isolated from cultural circles. She became a mother there and began writing the book.<sup>[11](https://elpais.com/argentina/2026-09-27/ariana-harwicz-la-escritora-incomoda-que-se-niega-a-ser-silenciada.html)</sup> She has said she wrote it "con ánimo de venganza" (with a desire for revenge), beginning one afternoon in late summer 2011 at her house in the French countryside, when she lay down in the grass among fallen trees with the sensation of carrying a knife with which she would bleed herself with one agile cut to the jugular; she rose and sat down to write the first sentence.<sup>[12](https://www.anagrama-ed.es/libro/narrativas-hispanicas/matate-amor/9788433948168/NH_770?itinerario=del-papel-a-la-pantalla)</sup> The 300-copy first edition came out full of typographical errors that some readers took for an experimental stylistic device.<sup>[4](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/de-la-autoedicion-a-hollywood-el-derrotero-de-la-primera-novela-de-ariana-harwicz-que-llego-al-nid19052025/)</sup>

**The trilogy.** *Matate, amor* is the first of three novels that Harwicz has called an "involuntary trilogy" exploring extreme mother-child relationships: *La débil mental* (2014, translated as *Feebleminded*) and *Precoz* (2015) follow it.<sup>[1](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/17/feebleminded-ariana-harwicz-review)</sup> Scorsese bought the rights to this "trilogy of passion," which the Spanish publisher Anagrama collected in a single volume in 2022.<sup>[4](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/de-la-autoedicion-a-hollywood-el-derrotero-de-la-primera-novela-de-ariana-harwicz-que-llego-al-nid19052025/)</sup>

## Adaptations

**Theater.** Before the film, the novel inspired a theatrical monologue in Argentina performed by Érica Rivas and directed by Marilú Marini; the two actresses and Harwicz herself made the adaptation, producing what the director of the piece described as a monologue that is not literature simply staged.<sup>[13](https://www.clarin.com/revista-n/escenarios/impulsos-mujer-salvaje_0_r1oE9Ts9G.html)</sup>

**The 2025 film.** The film's path to the screen began in the summer of 2020, when Martin Scorsese, having read the novel in his book club, sent a copy to [Jennifer Lawrence](https://www.edgepedia.org/jennifer-lawrence)'s production company [Excellent Cadaver](https://www.edgepedia.org/excellent-cadaver), imagining her in the lead as Grace.<sup>[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/jennifer-lawrence-die-my-love-lynne-ramsay)</sup> Lawrence sought out the Scottish director Lynne Ramsay, whose earlier features include *Ratcatcher* (1999), *We Need to Talk About Kevin* (2011), and *You Were Never Really Here* (2017); *Die My Love* was Ramsay's first film in eight years and her eighth Cannes selection.<sup>[7](https://apnews.com/article/fad7585c4b762e73c0557b993c3237e8)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[14](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/die-my-love-lynne-ramsays-mysterious-new-film/)</sup> The screenplay is credited to Ramsay, Enda Walsh, and Alice Birch, and the cast includes [LaKeith Stanfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/lakeith-stanfield) as Karl, Sissy Spacek as Pam, and Nick Nolte as Harry alongside Lawrence and Pattinson.<sup>[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/die-my-love/)</sup>

The film premiered in Competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival in May 2025.<sup>[3](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/die-my-love/)</sup> MUBI bought distribution rights for the United States and multiple other territories for $24 million, easily the biggest sale of that festival, and released the film in theaters on November 7, 2025.<sup>[7](https://apnews.com/article/fad7585c4b762e73c0557b993c3237e8)</sup>

**Changes from the book.** The film relocates the story from rural France to rural Montana and gives the characters names: Grace, an aspiring writer, and her partner Jackson, who leave New York City for an isolated farmhouse with their newborn.<sup>[2](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/22/die-my-love-ariana-harwicz-review)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[15](https://time.com/7331657/die-my-love-ending-explained/)</sup> Ramsay has described the novel as "a surrealistic, dark fairy tale," and the film cites *[A Woman Under the Influence](https://www.edgepedia.org/a-woman-under-the-influence)* (1974) and *Repulsion* (1965) among its inspirations.<sup>[15](https://time.com/7331657/die-my-love-ending-explained/)</sup> Critics divided over the result: The Guardian gave the film four stars and praised Lawrence's intensely sensual performance as a woman in meltdown, while the AP critic found the character study piercing but tediously overamplified.<sup>[16](https://www.theguardian.com/tone/reviews/2025/may/17/all)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[17](https://apnews.com/article/34914445ea735c8b328a8a01eb6a09aa)</sup>

## Reception and standing

The novel was named best novel of 2012 by the Buenos Aires daily *La Nación*.<sup>[18](https://charcopress.com/s/Catalogue-2018-19.pdf)</sup> Harwicz has been placed within the contemporary wave of Latin American women writers that includes [Mariana Enríquez](https://www.edgepedia.org/mariana-enriquez), Fernanda Trías, Mónica Ojeda, and [Samanta Schweblin](https://www.edgepedia.org/samanta-schweblin).<sup>[19](https://elpais.com/chile/2025-05-24/un-desquicio-poco-maternal.html)</sup> Academic criticism has read the book as a counter-discourse to the silencing effects of idealized motherhood, part of a broader questioning of maternal roles in twenty-first-century Argentine literature.<sup>[20](https://ojs.franca.unesp.br/index.php/historiaecultura/issue/download/229/408)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[21](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379857374_A_maternidade_questionada_em_Morra_amor_de_Ariana_Harwicz)</sup> Harwicz herself has resisted biographical readings: after the novel was cited against her as evidence that a character who hates motherhood makes the author a bad mother, she answered that writing is not adhering to an ideology but opposing the world.<sup>[12](https://www.anagrama-ed.es/libro/narrativas-hispanicas/matate-amor/9788433948168/NH_770?itinerario=del-papel-a-la-pantalla)</sup>

## References

1. [Feebleminded by Ariana Harwicz review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/may/17/feebleminded-ariana-harwicz-review)
2. [Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz review, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/22/die-my-love-ariana-harwicz-review)
3. [DIE MY LOVE, Festival de Cannes film page](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/f/die-my-love/)
4. [De la autoedición a Hollywood: el derrotero de la primera novela de Ariana Harwicz, LA NACION](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/cultura/de-la-autoedicion-a-hollywood-el-derrotero-de-la-primera-novela-de-ariana-harwicz-que-llego-al-nid19052025/)
5. [Die, My Love by Ariana Harwicz, Latin American Literature Today](https://latinamericanliteraturetoday.org/book_review/die-my-love-ariana-harwicz/)
6. [Jennifer Lawrence on Die My Love, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/jennifer-lawrence-die-my-love-lynne-ramsay)
7. [Jennifer Lawrence stirs Oscar talk in Cannes for 'Die, My Love', AP News](https://apnews.com/article/fad7585c4b762e73c0557b993c3237e8)
8. [Reseña de 'Matate, amor', El Tiempo](https://www.eltiempo.com/lecturas-dominicales/resena-de-matate-amor-de-la-escritora-argentina-ariana-harwicz-686041)
9. [Harwicz: Cuando la prosa se hace espinas, Revista Colofón](https://revistacolofon.com.ar/harwicz-cuando-la-prosa-se-hace-espinas/)
10. [«Matate, amor» llega al cine y colapsa, Casa Macondo](https://casamacondo.co/critica/matate-amor-cine-adaptacion/)
11. [Ariana Harwicz, la escritora incómoda que se niega a ser silenciada, El País](https://elpais.com/argentina/2026-09-27/ariana-harwicz-la-escritora-incomoda-que-se-niega-a-ser-silenciada.html)
12. [Matate, amor, Editorial Anagrama](https://www.anagrama-ed.es/libro/narrativas-hispanicas/matate-amor/9788433948168/NH_770?itinerario=del-papel-a-la-pantalla)
13. [Impulsos de la mujer salvaje, Revista Ñ, Clarín](https://www.clarin.com/revista-n/escenarios/impulsos-mujer-salvaje_0_r1oE9Ts9G.html)
14. [Die, My Love, crazy love according to Lynne Ramsay, Festival de Cannes](https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/2026/die-my-love-lynne-ramsays-mysterious-new-film/)
15. [The Meaning Behind the Incendiary Ending of Die My Love, TIME](https://time.com/7331657/die-my-love-ending-explained/)
16. [Die My Love review, The Guardian reviews, May 2025](https://www.theguardian.com/tone/reviews/2025/may/17/all)
17. [Movie Review: Jennifer Lawrence goes for broke in 'Die My Love', AP News](https://apnews.com/article/34914445ea735c8b328a8a01eb6a09aa)
18. [Charco Press Catalogue 2018–19](https://charcopress.com/s/Catalogue-2018-19.pdf)
19. [Un desquicio poco maternal, El País](https://elpais.com/chile/2025-05-24/un-desquicio-poco-maternal.html)
20. [ISSN 2238-6270, História e Cultura v.14 n.2](https://ojs.franca.unesp.br/index.php/historiaecultura/issue/download/229/408)
21. [A maternidade questionada em Morra, amor, de Ariana Harwicz, REVELL](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379857374_A_maternidade_questionada_em_Morra_amor_de_Ariana_Harwicz)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Prose fiction › Standalone novels › Standalone novels by language and national tradition (non-English)*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*

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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license