Love Lies Bleeding Review

In 2019, Rose Glass made her feature film debut with Saint Maud, which ended up being one hell of a debut. It follows a deeply religious nurse who comes to believe that it is her mission from God to save the soul of her latest patient, a former theater director. It was a breath of fresh air in the stake subgenre of religious horror, which is usually compromised of demonic possession and the sons of Satan. It explored themes of individual religious extremism and the relationship between religion and mental illness and featured a phenomenal lead performance from Morfydd Clark. Critics acclaimed the film and it was one of my favorite horror films of 2021 (when it was released in the United States). Many assumed that her second feature would operate in the same realm as Saint Maud, similar to the filmographies of Ari Aster and Robert Eggers. However, for her sophomore feature, Glass has decided to go off in a different direction and make Love Lies Bleeding, a violent, pulpy, and very sapphic neo-noir romantic thriller that’s even better than Saint Maud and is currently my favorite film of the year.

Taking place in the late 1980s, the film follows Lou (Kristen Stewart), a bitter and reclusive gym manager who falls for Jackie (Katy O’Brian), an ambitious bodybuilder hitchhiking her way to Las Vegas to take part in a competition. As the love between the two of them grows, it ignites a wave of violence that brings them into the crosshairs of Lou’s father Lou Sr. (Ed Harris), a crime lord who operates a gun smuggling operation out of his front of a shooting range.

Amazing lead performances from Kristen Stewart and a revelatory Katy O’Brian.

I’d be lying if I said that Kristen Stewart being the lead of Rose Glass’s second feature wasn’t one of the reasons I was interested in this. In the decade since the end of the Twilight films, it has been interesting to see Stewart’s reputation go from “that emotionless girl in Twilight who can’t act” to “lesbian/bisexual icon”. She’s garnered critical acclaim for her performances in Olivier Assayas’ Clouds of Sils Maria and Personal Shopper and received an Academy Award nomination for her performance as Diana Spencer in Spencer. While her performance here isn’t career-best or award-worthy, it is still pretty good. She plays Lou as someone embittered and hostile, someone who wants to leave the small town where she’s stuck, yet only sticks around to keep an eye on her sister Beth, who is stuck in an abusive relationship with her husband J.J. Stewart’s chemistry with Katy O’Brian is fantastic, namely as Lou’s exterior softens and her love for Jackie blooms, culminating in a very tender scene in the climax.

Katy O’Brian, on the other hand, is phenomenal here as Jackie in what is her breakout performance. O’Brian has a fascinating background, and it’s great to see a fellow Hoosier make it big on screen. O’Brian is both a bodybuilder and martial artist, having studied karate starting at a young age, obtaining her brown belt at age 9, and then getting a blackbelt in hapkido while in college. After college, she had a brief career in law enforcement as a police officer in Carmel, Indiana, before making the switch to acting. She has had small parts in television shows such as The Walking Dead and Black Lightning, with her biggest role before this film being Elia Kane on The Mandalorian. With her performance here, she more or less proves her talents as an actress, as she is amazing. She plays the part of Jackie as charming yet impulsive, best shown in her introduction scene, where she punches somebody who insults Lou. Her chemistry and scenes with Stewart are fantastic, as well as the way that she depicts the euphoria, rush, and aggression she gets from taking steroids. However, what sold me on her performance was a scene in the third act that showed off a surprising amount of vulnerability and emotion. Like with Zac Efron in The Iron Claw, O’Brian is in the best shape of her life as Jackie, having a believable Amazonian build to Jackie that strikes a balance between raw, muscular strength and feminine beauty. It’s a performance that makes me hope that she gets bigger, more prominent roles in the future.

Aside from the two leads, the rest of the cast is fantastic as well, most notably Ed Harris as Lou Sr. Harris is no stranger to playing villains, be it in The Rock or A History of Violence. Here, his presence looms large over the events of the movie, possessing the thinly veiled appearance of a caring family man with something much more ominous and sinister lurking underneath. This is enunciated by the appearance of his aged, withered look with a long, skinny skullet, looking as if the Crypt Keeper were the lead singer of a prog rock band. There’s also Dave Franco as JJ, Lou’s brother-in-law who works for Lou Sr. In contrast to Franco’s comedic and romantic roles, Franco here plays the part of a slimy, loathsome abuser, best emphasized by his pencil mustache and ratty mullet. And in a really great supporting role is Anna Baryshnikov as Daisy, Lou’s friend who frequents the gym she works at. While playing the part as ditzy and airheaded, as the film goes on, Baryshnikov shows that there is something more perceptive and sinister underneath her initial looks.

An amazingly shot and scored movie that’s excelled by Glass’s direction.

One of the defining features of Rose Glass’s debut Saint Maud was the way it was shot, with interesting use of camera angles and the oppressive use of earthy colors. Even if it is a wildly different film, these elements are still present within Love Lies Bleeding. This is most notable in the driving scenes and the night scenes. Glass uses a lot of birdeye shots when filming the driving scenes, while the night scenes here have an ethereal beauty vibe to them. This is in contrast to the daytime scenes, which have a scorching hot look that emphasizes the concrete buildings that encapsulate the setting. This realistic look is refreshing when compared to other ’80s set works that take a rose-colored glass approach to the decade with neon colors and prominent purples. In addition to the aforementioned 80s set work that is obsessed with the pop culture of the decade, this movie barely mentions them at all. The only major references to 80s pop culture is Jackie being referred to as Rambo and JJ saying that everyone on the shooting range wants to shoot the Beretta 92 after Die Hard was released. The film’s depiction of the 1980s reminds me of another genre-bending romance movie, Bones and All, which has a similar realistic look, and its only major pop culture reference is Timothee Chalamet’s Lee wearing a Thundercats t-shirt.

In addition to Glass’s craft on display, another amazing aspect of the movie is its music, in both its score and soundtrack. The score was done by Clint Mansell, best known for being a frequent collaborator with the likes of Darren Aronofsky and Ben Wheatley. Here, he creates a very brilliant and minimalist synth score that would feel right at home in an 80s Michael Mann movie, with the score sounding a bit like an industrial version of Tangerine Dream. As for the film’s soundtrack, it is every bit as good as the film’s score. In contrast to many films that use Top 40 hits to illustrate the time, Love Lies Bleeding opts for some more obscure pop hits. The tracks include Nona Hendyx’s “Transformation” being played as Lou first lays eyes upon Jackie at the gym and Colourbox’s “The Moon is Blue” being played at Jackie’s showcase at the Las Vegas bodybuilding competition. However, my favorite use of a track goes to “Nice Mover” by Gina x Performance, which plays during a sex scene/steroid use montage between Lou and Jackie, while showing how Lou Sr.’s gun smuggling operation works.

One prominent aspect of the film that is done exceptionally well is the sex scenes between Stewart and O’Brian. There has been a frequent discourse surrounding sex scenes in movies that I have documented in my review of Poor Things. However, there was an illuminating insight from one of my friends, who said that the reason why the majority of sex scenes in films are (in her own words) “garbage” is because they are framed by the male gaze. Sex scenes that have been made by women (such as in Portrait of a Lady on Fire) have a passion and intimacy to them without that titillation factor. This fiery passion is in full-on display in Love Lies Bleeding, with both Stewart and O’Brian being very open about their excitement in filming said sex scenes. The highlight for me in these sex scenes would have to be in the aforementioned montage, namely a bit where Jackie down a protein shake while Lou likes the runoff of her glistening body. It’s incredibly refreshing in an era that has seen mainstream cinema at its most sexless and chaste.

A wildly different from her debut, Rose Glass’s Love Lies Bleeding is currently my favorite film of the year, as she crafts a sapphic, pulpy, neo-noir thriller that’s a musclebound mashup of the Wachowski’s Bound and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Drive. Kristen Stewart is fantastic while Katy O’Brien is the breakout MVP of the film as she proves her talent as an actress. Its beautifully shot and realistic take on the 80s is refreshing, and it has both a great soundtrack and an amazing synth score by Clint Mansell. This movie comes with the highest recommendation, as it makes me excited to see where Rose Glass takes her career next.