I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth vs. Michelle Carter (2019)

I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth vs. Michelle Carter is a two-part documentary film directed by Erin Lee Carr and it aired at HBO in 2019. It is based on the death of Conrad Roy by suicide and his girlfriend at the time, Michelle Carter, is being blamed for involuntary manslaughter.

That’s the thing about depression, you can’t control your thoughts and sometimes your acts. Both Michelle and Conrad were not well mentally. She’s living a life in her head (plus the medication that was irresponsibly prescribed to him), he already had a severe mental illness and even suffered domestic violence. It is extremely unfortunate that she wasn’t able to actually help him, but in her sick (not in an evil way, but as an actual disease) she was helping him.

When you’re that suffocated and desperate (both effects of depression), you can’t think straight. Suicidal thoughts run through your mind daily. So, if it wasn’t Michelle, unfortunately I believe it was going to be somebody else. In fact, a person who has really decided to end their life, they’re going to do it anyway. If the mind of a sick person (again, as a disease, not in evil) thinks that that’s the only way out, the suicidal person is going to do it anyway. That’s how fucked up depression is.

That case reminds me of the mean comments we read everyday online. “You suck”, “kill yourself”, “you’re ugly”, etc., are very common in a person’s social media, especially young woman’s. I somehow find this case a little bit sexist (not excluding Michelle’s responsibility, of course), but men abuse women online everyday with these kinds of comments and nothing happens to them. In this case, unfortunately something really happened, but Michelle needs help. Mental help. Sentencing her to a life in prison or giving her more guilt and abuse that she already has is not the proper way to deal with this.

This should be an example of how serious mental health really is. Especially around young people. It’s the government’s responsibility to treat mental illness like the serious issue that it is. It’s our responsibility to have a proper conversation about it. As human beings. As citizens.

Review originally made at the TV Time app.

Ficha Técnica

I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth vs. Michelle Carter (Estados Unidos, 2019)

Direção: Erin Lee Carr

Duração: 143 min.