Review: Love Lies Bleeding
Love Lies Bleeding, director Rose Glass’s latest, opens on a still New Mexico night sky, stars bright amongst the black backdrop. We’re immediately clued into the vibe of the film—there’s something fantastically other-worldly about how the film opens. Clint Mansell’s cosmic score sets the tone, too, as the camera tilts down revealing the exterior of a gym, lit with bright, ‘80s-era neon. The script, by Glass and Weronika Tofilska, has elements of a traditional twisty crime film—reminiscent of the Coen brothers’ Blood Simple or No Country For Old Men—but it does take some wild chances. Kristen Stewart plays Lou, a gym manager, who meets and falls in love with Jackie (Katy O'Brian), a competitive bodybuilder on her way to Las Vegas. Jackie unwittingly gets wrapped up in Lou’s family drama after taking a job at a shooting range owned by Lou’s estranged dad, Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), the head of a crime organization. It all goes topsy-turvy quickly, but in the midst of the blood and bodies, Love Lies Bleeding remains a love story, one with truly bizarre touches by its visionary director.
Stewart’s Lou has a past with her father, as we see in quick flashbacks, doused in pure red cinematography. She takes the lead after the first death that happens early on in the film. In the blink of an eye she knows what exactly to do and how to clean up the bloody mess. She’s believably capable of not only disposing of a body but maybe pulling the trigger herself if she has to. Even though her first scene has her unclogging a toilet, it’s a badass lead role, one that would’ve been played by a leading man if this were made in the ‘80s, which is when the film takes place. At times, she has the matched perseverance and sex appeal of a young Kevin Bacon or Keanu Reeves, but she also has the rational fear of someone on the verge of a nervous breakdown whenever a new wrinkle emerges. Her character isn’t completely competent, but she’s no idiot—even when she’s powerless, Stewart commands the screen.
O'Brian’s Jackie is the brute force to Lou’s quick thinking. She’s an enigma from the start, her character and the actor herself. A supporting player for years, more notably on The Mandalorian, O'Brian is the co-lead here with Stewart and pulls off a star-making performance. O’Brian’s muscle is the first thing the audience and Lou notice when they first meet. Close-ups of Jackie’s sweaty biceps entice. It’s the selling point of the film—O'Brian’s muscles are prominent on the poster—yet O'Brian’s physique is the entry point to developing her character. It’s what draws us in. The heart of the film lies with Jackie and Lou, in those more quiet, intimate moments, and their chemistry works. There is captivating, profound innocence in O’Brian’s eyes that shapes how we see Jackie beyond the rage he eventually see. The question becomes, is Jackie more than just the muscle she exhibits? As things get more complicated, Lou struggles with taming the untamable Jackie under immense pressure to keep both of them out of harm’s way.
Various characters become speedbumps in Jackie and Lou’s hopeful drive away into the sunset. Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov) is Lou’s casual friend with benefits who starts meddling in her business. Baryshnikov’s fake yellow teeth are the cherry on top of her pitch-perfect pest role. Lou’s sister, Beth (Jena Malone), and brother-in-law, JJ (Dave Franco), both end up playing pivotal roles, too. Malone in particular has the most interesting arc in her small supporting role, playing a housewife who stays with her husband after continuously being physically abused. The film speaks on how these characters deal with violence. With the sisters Beth and Lou, their relationship with violence undoubtedly stems from their father, Lou Sr. It’s no surprise that Ed Harris, in a ridiculous wig, is menacing and totally believable as a psychopath crime lord. Harris fits in with the trippy nature of the film—one of his quirks is keeping an insect collection that pays off perfectly in the third act. Every actor is on the film’s wavelength, even when things go way off the beaten path.
Stewart said in a recent interview that the film’s sex scenes will “shock” people. They are shocking, only in that we don’t see enough sex scenes like this in modern-day films. There’s intense intimacy between Stewart and O’Brian—one moment in particular has both actors clothed and the eroticism comes from what Lou says as she pleasures Jackie. Even if their attraction to each other is purely sexual, the desire for these two to be together is strong. If anything truly shocks, it’s the violence—graphic and unexpected, some of the the practical gore effects are stomach-churning. It is delightful to see a genre film like this embrace sex, violence, and honest-to-goodness romance all at once. The film takes huge risks in the end, some that might turn off viewers who expect something more grounded. The cosmic aurora at the start of the film comes full circle—quite possibly the only ill-conceived, head-scratching moment comes in the final five minutes. But the wager is if you’re with these characters, you’re with them until the end, no matter what. I certainly was.
