X
In Theaters Now
- 2024
- R
- A24
- 1 h 44 m
- 2024
- R
- A24
- 1 h 44 m
Summary Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
Directed By: Rose Glass
Written By: Weronika Tofilska, Rose Glass
In Theaters Now
- 2024
- R
- A24
- 1 h 44 m
- 2024
- R
- A24
- 1 h 44 m
Love Lies Bleeding
76
5.7
Where to Watch
Summary Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family.
Directed By: Rose Glass
Written By: Weronika Tofilska, Rose Glass
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 49 Critic Reviews
76
82% Positive
40 Reviews
40 Reviews
18% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 49 Critic Reviews
76
82% Positive
40 Reviews
40 Reviews
18% Mixed
9 Reviews
9 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The all-out Love Lies Bleeding is a love story that won’t work for everyone. However, for those who can revel in the blood-soaked, complicated, sapphic delights that make up the backbone of the film, the saga of Lou and Jackie will be one for the ages.
Dive head first into this pulpy, erotic crime thriller starring a fireball Kristen Stewart as a gym manager in hot love with a young bodybuilder (a sensational Katy M. O'Brian), Directed in a fever by the great Rose Glass, the film is a grenade of image and sound ready to blow.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 68 User Ratings
5.7
66% Positive
45 Ratings
45 Ratings
3% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
31% Negative
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 68 User Ratings
5.7
66% Positive
45 Ratings
45 Ratings
3% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
31% Negative
21 Ratings
21 Ratings
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Exploring the boundaries of film noir, “Love Lies Bleeding” is a grimy, bloody, hot, sweaty, pulse-pounding, sexy, gory mess. You should go see it **** 1989, Lou (Kristen Stewart – “Twilight” series, “Spencer”) is marking time managing a run-down gym in rural New Mexico. The first time we see her, she’s unclogging a toilet. Into her gym and her life walks Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a buff, seemingly confident woman on her way to a body-building competition in Las Vegas. When a guy at the gym hits on Jackie, she punches him in the face, hard. Lou is in love. It’s all an intriguing variation on the femme fatale and the macho stereotypes that typically populate this genre. (“Of all the gym joints in all the towns in the world, she walks into mine.”) Lou, it turns out, is the daughter of the local gangster (an excellent Ed Harris), who skirts the law, sells guns on the black market and generally runs the town with a pitiless, self-serving efficiency. Perhaps Jackie is Lou’s ticket out of this soul-crushing **** intentions, the execution and the action throughout this film are all first-rate. Director/Co-Writer Rose Glass (“Saint Maud”) dabbles in plenty of the tropes associated with film noir. But she also offers a refreshing new take in several areas. One of the powerful themes here is the overlapping nature of addiction, obsession and love. Lou offers Jackie her passion (and anabolic steroids). There’s also a clear intimation, particularly in the film’s final scene, that the only way to get what you really want is by being remorselessly ruthless. The script, co-written by Polish writer/director Weronika Tofilska, offers scenes that rival the Coen Brothers’ feature film debut “Blood Simple.” The score by Clint Mansell and cinematography from Ben Fodesman (a “Saint Maud” alum) add texture and atmosphere to the proceedings.While O’Brian is a powerful presence physically and emotionally, this is Kristen Stewart’s film. She conveys an edgy wariness and a pervasive skepticism that are heart-breaking. Her lingering glances at Jackie offer a window into her soul, while her skittish manner suggests a dog that’s been kicked one too many times. She’s mesmerizing.What doesn’t work for me is the surrealism Director Glass inserts in the final act. While she foreshadows these leaps into fantasy and her intentions are admirable, these scenes just don’t work. It’s a trifling criticism, important only because this leap into surrealism is a notable departure from the brash self-assurance that propels the film most of the time.This is not a film for the faint of heart. It’s a brutally unblinking assessment of human nature that is simultaneously exhilarating and profoundly depressing. It’s a cautionary tale about the price to be paid when seizing personal power.
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Wherever these two love-crazed lesbians’ poorly-thought-out plans take them, we’re along for the dizzying ride.
I wish the busting-loose part went further in “Love Lies Bleeding.” But Stewart, subtle and fierce, and O’Brian, sinewy and fiercer, prove exceptional at hitting two or three notes at once, and never obviously.
The entertaining movie from director Rose Glass, whose first feature was “Saint Maud,” is unsparing in its graphic depictions of violence, abuse and extreme aspects of the body. Many will find all of that stuff gratuitous, but it fleshes out this unsavory world and ratchets up the plot’s tension.
The batshit fever dream that Kristen Stewart’s fans have been waiting for, Love Lies Bleeding also happens to be the best B-movie of the year.
Without the garish excess, the script is rote and rickety, a ride to the wild side that’s all out of gas.
I’m admittedly not in the demo of this film, but I love Kristen Stewart, and she’s solid here. The film has some great individual bits, unfortunately it just doesn’t all come together as smoothly as it could…
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[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
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Awards
Berlin International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
