Love Lies Bleeding

Rose Glass’s grungy new romantic thriller is Thelma & Louise by the way of Drive – a neon-tinted tale of lovers and lawbreakers that’s equal parts American Dream, erotic fantasy and drug-induced nightmare. 

Set in a middle-of-nowhere town in 1980s New Mexico, Love Lies Bleeding opens in a dingy warehouse gym where packs of shirtless men lumber around, sweating out sets of bicep curls and flexing into every reflective surface they encounter. The gym manager, Lou (Kristen Stewart), scowls and snaps her way through the new herd of meatheads brought by each passing shift until one day she catches the eye of a towering female bodybuilder named Jackie (Katy O’Brian). 

The two enjoy a smoke together after the gym closes, a habit that Lou can’t seem to quit, no matter how much time she spends listening to self-help tapes about how dangerous it is. Smoking turns to flirting, flirting turns to fucking and pretty soon the two of them are hurtling into a full-blown romance. And once again Lou finds herself addicted to something that just might destroy her. 

The chemistry between the two leads is intoxicating, a dynamic that’s filled with passion and bite. Stewart’s performance is all jagged edges, though we sense that there might be a sweetness and a softness to Lou as well, if anyone could ever get close enough to see it. Despite her burly physique, Jackie is a light and bubbly presence by comparison, greeting almost everyone she encounters with a cheerful smile (although she also has a mean right hook to offer anyone who tries to take advantage of her friendly nature). 

At Lou’s encouragement, Jackie starts using steroids that enlarge her muscles and send her heart rate into overdrive. The film around her seems to swell and speed up in the same way, as one volatile new element after another is injected into the plot. 

Lou has a brother-in-law, JJ – Dave Franco sporting the world’s worst haircut and that patented, Franco Brothers brand of highly punchable smarm – who likes to beat up her sister, played by Jena Malone (perfect casting). Lou also has a psychotic, gun-running father played by a quietly demonic Ed Harris. Throw in a dirty cop, a too-diligent pair of FBI agents and a ditzy local girl who can’t quite seem to accept that her feelings for Lou are unrequited, and you’ve got a tale that can only end in disaster. 

A single moment of violence is all it takes to put the rest of the plot into motion, and from there Love Lies Bleeding becomes a mad dash for cover, with each character frantically trying to save their own neck, usually making things much worse for everyone in the process. It’s a sustained adrenaline rush of a third act that leaves us blinking in the hot desert daylight, wondering how we got here. 

Darkly funny, deeply gross, weirdly sexy and totally propulsive, Love Lies Bleeding is a stylishly satisfying and defiantly queer addition to the neo-noir canon. 

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Love Lies Bleeding was the opening film at Glasgow Film Festival and is released in the UK on 3 May by Lionsgate

Listen to our interview with director Rose Glass on the latest episode of The Cineskinny podcast, in the player below or wherever you get your podcasts...