Film Review - Love Lies Bleeding
Images courtesy of VVS Films.
‘It’s the ones who love you the most who will always disappoint you in the end.’
Love and revenge are not so sweet in this sweaty lesbian thriller directed by Rose Glass.
Kristen Stewart takes on her gayest role yet as Lou, a mullet-wearing masc lesbian who unclogs toilets at the local gym in her small town in 1980s New Mexico. Jackie (Katy O'Brian), a ripped hitchhiker travelling across the country has stopped in town to train for an upcoming bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas. Jackie picks up a waitressing job at the local gun range, owned by skullet-wearing ‘bug guy’ (Ed Harris), soon to be introduced as Lou’s homicidal father. After work, Jackie hits the gym and Lou hits on Jackie, and it’s a hunky meet-cute. Lou skips the U-Haul and injects steroids into Jackie’s ass. What could go wrong?
‘Anyone can feel strong hiding behind a piece of metal. I prefer to know my own strength’ Jackie admonishes at the start of the film. Jackie gets tied up in Lou’s family secrets and trades her guns for guns in a revenge plot gone wrong.
What I was not expecting from Love Lies Bleeding was its subtle influences of the supernatural… that A24 je ne sais quoi. Lou and Jackie’s interactions are intercut with dark scenes bathed in red light featuring Mr. Lou Senior staring villainously into the camera. The eerie soundtrack composed by Clint Mansell features unnerving synth tones to accompany shots of the gym with a starry sky in the background. Voices whisper during a shot of a crevasse in the desert like life is coming from the crack itself. The steroids Jackie takes slowly transform her as she gains superhuman strength, and her muscles bulge like they have a mind of their own. The supernatural motif adds a fantastical element to the small rural town and the characters within it.
The action in the film is broken up with gentle moments of intimacy between Lou and Jackie. As a Kristen Stewart fan since her Twilight (2008) days, it was refreshing to see her in a romance that felt natural. Team Jacob or Edward? No, team Jackie! Glass and intimacy coordinator Rebekah Wiggins have crafted sensual sex scenes in Love Lies Bleeding that don’t belong on Pornhub! It’s great to see a movie with lesbians at the forefront where they’re not fetishised, stereotyped, or tokenised.
Glass subverted my expectations repeatedly through her pairing of lesbians and gym bros, the supernatural creeping into the frame, and an unexpected experimental conclusion to the movie. Love Lies Bleeding is a bloody good thriller!
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Love Lies Bleeding is screening in cinemas from Thursday 14th March. For tickets and more info, click here.