don't kiss and tell
'Love Lies Bleeding' Reviews: Please Watch This Heady Lesbian Crime Thriller
If you were to distill the internet down into buzzwords, and had an AI engine churn out a movie plot, "Love Lies Bleeding" would be something it would throw up. It's got a heady mix of lust, violence and pulp. This lesbian romantic crime thriller is set in the '80s, stars Kristen Stewart and has just the elements needed to make it catnip for yearners.
"Love Lies Bleeding" releases on my birthday, March 8, 2024, and comes from up-and-coming superstar filmmaker Rose Glass. It stars Kristen Stewart, Katy O'Brian, Ed Harris, Jena Malone and Dave Franco. Here's what critics had to say — most of them really liked this one.
The premise
A film about a bodybuilder and a crime family might not strike you as an obvious vehicle for magical realism. But that's only if you haven't seen Rose Glass's second feature film, "Love Lies Bleeding." On its surface, "Love Lies Bleeding," co-written by Glass and Weronika Tofilska, is the love story of two desperate young women. Lou (Kristen Stewart) is a moody gym manager trying to protect her sister Beth (Jena Malone) from her abusive husband (Dave Franco). Jackie (Katy O'Brian) is a bodybuilder who dreams of winning an upcoming competition in Las Vegas. When Lou and Jackie meet, they fall for each other hard, but Jackie soon gets sucked into the deadly world of Lou's crime boss father. Plus, Jackie may be hiding a few secrets herself.
This one is steamy and bloody AF
There's a reason why "Love Lies Bleeding," which premiered tonight at Sundance, is in the festival's Midnight section. As the movie goes on, it generates enough ultra-violence and gonzo twists to be a midnight movie. Does that mean that the film violates its noir roots? For a while, yes, and ultimately no. For even as we're hanging on for dear life, watching Lou wrap bodies in carpets or seeing the most innocent person onscreen get executed, the movie creates a vision it sticks to. And that's all about Jackie. At various points, we hear and see her muscles bulging, crackling, and growing, as if she were the Incredible Hulk, and this is not meant to be real; it's a kind of metaphor. The steroids have taken her over, and when she goes to Vegas to participate in a bodybuilding competition, it's both a triumph and a hallucinatory disaster. We think she's lost it, or maybe lost herself.
[Variety]
It's the pair's crackling chemistry — which Glass funnels into a series of genuinely hot sex scenes that more than prove the necessity for such sequences in films that hinge on actual human romantic relationships — that drives "Love Lies Bleeding," an alternately alluring and excruciating crime thriller that also smacks of body horror and midnight movie thrills. Glass, who previously earned scads of instant fans with her "Saint Maud," again tackles the human body as a vessel for pain, pleasure, and so much more, though the brutally blunt imagery that comes to dominate the film loses its power over time.
This kind of hyperviolent bloodbath is generally the domain of men, so it's a welcome switch to have women at the center and a festering father-daughter tangle in place of the usual son — even if Glass has no interest in making any type of feminist statement. She punctuates the film with startling set-pieces, none of which can be described without spoilers. But Jackie's eventual appearance on the Vegas competition stage, when her massive steroid intake has made her spin out of control, starts a crescendo of nasty gonzo moments while also landing her in the clutches of Lou Sr.
The cast is stacked and quite buff (besides Ed Harris's wig)
The cast, led by Katy O'Brian and Kristen Stewart, commits to the material. O’Brian and Stewart have a volatile chemistry that permeates all of their scenes. The physical presence and intensity of the former, as well as the consistently surprising nature of the latter, mix deftly. O'Brian really breaks through here, while Stewart adds another ace turn to her impressive resume. Ed Harris is captivating whenever he's on screen, while Dave Franco and Jena Malone are solid in roles that don't ask a ton of them. In addition to Anna Baryshnikov, supporting players here include Matthew Blood-Smyth, Orion Carrington, David DeLao, and more.
But it's when Stewart and O'Brian are together that "Love Lies Bleeding" becomes a powerhouse. It's if their characters can't control their desires when they're together — for good and for bad. They both give each other strength, but sometimes, that strength can go overboard in an escalating and horrific fashion. Stewart and O'Brian play Lou and Jackie as if they know they're in a great love story that they can't escape. They can't keep their hands off each other, and these scenes are full of passion, lust, and genuine love for each other. But even when it would probably be easier for both of them to cut and run, it never even seems like an option. Jackie and Lou become like a roided-out 1980s version of Bonnie and Clyde and it's thrilling to watch them together.
[Collider]
For her part, Katy O'Brian sinks her teeth into the meaty role of a bisexual Oklahoma native with a Hulk mentality and the veiny muscles to accompany it. Jackie takes on every situation with zeal and mystery, a destructive combination for a roided-out junkie confident enough to triumph in life, no matter the cost. Her relationship with Lou suffers as Jackie's personal goals get in the way of Lou's desire to protect her new love life.
[The Wrap]
TL;DR
Kristen Stewart, Katy O'Brian give '80s thriller a She-Hulk-sized twist.
Gives the Western revenge formula the gay bench pressing it deserves. Rose Glass, never trim your thorns.
What a hot kick in the rock-hard ass this sucker is.
[Pajiba]
"Love Lies Bleeding is just "Saint Maud" with Lesbians and muscles. Honestly, I want more of that.
"Love Lies Bleeding" is a carnal love story that allows its women to be hammers of retribution.