This sweaty and grimy thriller didn’t quite work for me overall, but I couldn’t help but admire its fearless, go-for-broke attitude.
Kristen Stewart is a performer who’s always evoked a mix of contradictory feelings in me; she somehow manages to be both flat and awkward and a compelling, intriguing presence. What I’m not mixed on is her excellent turn in Rose Glass’ lurid, blood-soaked tale of obsessive love, bodybuilding and toxic family ties. Her natural restraint does a lot to ground an over-the-top film that takes some dizzying risks near the end.
Stewart’s twitchy, introverted style is perfect for Lou, a loner employed at a gym in a New Mexico desert town. This modest job is a way of escaping her shady father Lou Sr, played by quietly creepy Ed Harris sporting the most deranged hair I’ve seen onscreen in a while (bald on top, long at the back). Lou would love to leave for good, but she feels obligated to stay and keep an eye on her sister Beth (Jena Malone) and Beth’s abusive husband JJ (Dave Franco). It’s needless to say that JJ has a revolting 80s mullet (Lou’s own hair looks like she’s yet to discover the existence of shampoo… this is truly a bad hair movie).
Lou’s life consists of monotony, blocked toilets at work and lonely microwaved dinners at home, until one day a lightning bolt strikes when she spots a new customer at the gym. Jackie (Katy O’Brian) is an outcast in her home town, hitchhiking her way to Las Vegas for the bodybuilding championship; she’s tough, magnificently ripped and sends Lou falling into instant lust. The two women hook up and Lou introduces Jackie to steroids pinched from her father’s supplies, the first in a series of bad decisions. Things go from bad to worse when Lou’s sister lands in hospital after an episode of domestic violence, and Jackie’s rage boils over.
Love Lies Bleeding has a great scuzzy, gritty yet campy vibe that goes a long way even if it doesn’t compensate for the film’s shortcomings. Visually, it’s heavy on close-ups, often transfixed on human flesh, whether it’s sweating exercising bodies at the gym, sensual lovemaking scenes or stomach-churning gore. I’ve never been even remotely interested in bodybuilding, but the movie takes so much delight in Jackie’s sculpted body and its raw muscular strength that it’s hard not to be carried away.
Despite the strong performances, especially from Stewart, O’Brian and Harris, I couldn’t help but feel dissatisfaction of wanting more from their characters. The strained familial relationship against the backdrop of crime could have been its own film, but instead it feels barely sketched in. The physical infatuation between Lou and Jackie is convincingly portrayed in a series of frank sex scenes, however I never bought a deeper emotional connection that the movie clearly wants you to believe in, maybe because their relationship takes a back seat to the noirish plot machinations that felt like the least interesting aspect of the film.
I was also never sure if Glass intended her movie to be a cautionary tale about the danger of romantic obsession, because on the other hand it also seems to take a great deal of amoral joy in the violent goings-on. It is not a problem in itself, but you can’t really have it both ways.
I watched enough spoiler-free reviews to know that the movie goes fully bonkers at the end, but nothing could have prepared me for its outrageous finale. This detour into the surreal came off as very silly rather than transcendent, and in the end Glass’ grab bag of disparate elements don’t quite come together to form a coherent whole. I can still appreciate a movie for showing me something different, and for all its flaws Love Lies Bleeding is a fairly unique thriller.
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