Leave it to A24 to bring CINEMA back to theaters. After what feels like eternity, “Love Lies Bleeding” injects a breath of fresh air into the 2024 film slate. It’s been a slump to say the least, and the buzz out of Sundance surrounding this latest outing had pushed it up to be one of the most anticipated films of the year. Even the trailer sold me, and I’m happy to report that this wild, queer noir love story doesn’t disappoint.
Admittedly, this movie isn’t for everyone, but A24 films rarely are. They often operate in that sort of polarizing “love it or hate it” space without any kind of middle ground. This one isn’t any different, as its hyper-stylized, almost surreal imagery, steamy sex and ultraviolent moments may be too affronting for some viewers.
But for who “Love Lies Bleeding” IS for, it delivers a bizarre blend of bodybuilding, sex, violence, crime, love, and murder that thrill. The film’s overall craft and extremes to which it executes its narrative elevates its rather conventional noir framework, allowing it stand out as unique piece of cinema among its genre peers.
Written and directed by Rose Glass (“Saint Maud“) and co-written by Weronika Tofilska, “Love Lies Bleeding” follows Lou (Kristen Stewart) a lesbian gym manager in a small town in New Mexico in 1989. When Jackie (an amateur body builder played by Katy O’Brian) strolls into town and comes to workout at her gym, they form an instant connection and start a steamy, steroid infused relationship. Jackie is passing through to make it to a competition in Vegas, and asks Lou to come with her as their relationship grows. Unbeknownst to Lou, Jackie has gotten a job at her father’s gun range after sleeping with her brother in law (played by a very skeezy Dave Franco). Lou and her father (Ed Harris) are incredibly estranged, and it soon becomes clear that they have some dark secrets between them. Jackie and Lou soon become caught up in a situation that neither can control, and those dark secrets from them both begin bleeding (see what I did there?) out into the open. Everything will be challenged and violence will reign, casting a dark cloud over everyone and everything.
Glass’ follow up to her highly praised directorial debut succeeds in some unique ways. Namely, the way it engrosses viewers with its style to somewhat blind you from the fact that “Love Lies Bleeding” is a rather conventional noir story. Everything is here; the protagonist with a past, a criminal conspiracy, the lone wanderer that stumbles into town and makes a mess of things, the femme fatale, even the bumbling cops who never seem to know what’s going on. Outside of using different devices like queerness and bodybuilding, “Love Lies Bleeding” largely sticks to the genre script from start to finish. For once, that’s a compliment and not an indictment. Glass seems to understand that not everything needs to be subversive. If you’ve got enough vision and confidence, you can inject your passionate flare to elevate those tropes to great effectiveness. And boy does she ever, with “Love Lies Bleeding” being infused with so much kinetic energy it is almost a visual sensory overload.
I’m a stan for the grainy, gritty, A24 camera style, and Ben Fordesman’s cinematography of red color schemes and eerie atmosphere transform even the most mundane shots of separating out the yolks from eggs or sweaty bicep curls into a sort of body horror that feels as unsettling as it is entrancing. “Love Lies Bleeding” is craft galore, and that’s before we even get to the absolutely stellar performances. Stewart has worked hard to pursue projects that she has a passion for, and “Love Lies Bleeding” seems to understand how to use her performance attributes the best. Stewart has always had this sort of displacement anxiety in her demeanor, often portraying her characters as someone who doesn’t really know how to process their own emotions let alone share those emotions with others. Stewart’s Lou is perfected with this kind of energy. The small town setting in the late 80s where queerness would’ve automatically put you on the fringes serves this kind of character, and Stewart feels properly utilized and free to bring what she wants to the role.
And then there’s O’Brian, who not only looks like she could kill a man with her bare hands but also delivers an absolutely knockout performance. Paired with Stewart, the two have tremendous chemistry, and as things begin to fall apart and the chaos and violence escalates, O’Brian never once falters. From the moment she shows up in “Love Lies Bleeding,” you feel drawn to her. She perfectly balances the mystery of the wanderer and the obsessive bodybuilder with the hard exterior, while also allowing the cracks of vulnerability to come out when needed. The two are quite literally the heart and soul of “Love Lies Bleeding,” and I’d venture to say that it wouldn’t work without them. They’re wholly committed to their roles, and genuinely invested in the eroticism that is both thematic and graphic and often. “Love Lies Bleeding” is sexual and violent, and doesn’t work without Stewart and O’Brian willing to be as physically vulnerable as Glass views them. And of course, there’s Harris who is just absolutely cooking. You’d be hard pressed to find another actor who can bring so much menace to the screen with such limited screen time, and Harris beautifully conveys the kind of villain you love to hate.
Even if you’re on board for everything we just covered, “Love Lies Bleeding” really does go the extremes of even the most extreme noirs, and that surrealism begins to take hold in the third act. It is bound to be a divisive conclusion, with an array of interpretations about what actually happens vs what we see. Glass slowly but surely increases the strangeness of her visuals as the story unfolds, and unleashes a barrage in the films final moments. It’s worth the journey for me, but “Love Lies Bleeding” really tests the waters of the genre in the end and may leave some viewers scratching their heads about what it all means. It will take some time to sit with, and that kind of ambiguity and introspection feels intentional even if it is off-putting. The sex is graphic but never exploitative, the violence is gruesome but never goofy, and body horror and drug fueled chaos is frantic and unsettling but purposeful, and while “Love Lies Bleeding” takes some small plot stumbles and strange character motivations as it hurdles towards its conclusion, it succeeds in being more than the sum of its parts.
This film proves the best love stories are founded on steroids and murder.
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
“Love Lies Bleeding” is now playing in theaters. You can watch the trailer below.
