Writer-director Rose Glass proves to be one of the most exciting and vibrant voices in filmmaking. After overturning horror conventions Saint Maudit has its sights set on 1980s crime thrillers Love lies bleeding. With her sophomore effort, she offers a lively, soaring examination of the ugliest, ugliest, and most beautiful parts of female desire. Its diabolical take on a lesbian romance is destined for cult status, offering a charming cast, a killer soundtrack by Chris Mansell, and some of the scariest killstreaks this side from David Cronenberg.
The film takes place around the year 1989, in the neon-lit deserts of New Mexico. Love lies bleeding The film revolves around Lou (Kristen Stewart), a gym manager who is always stuck cleaning up someone else's mess. Lou feels trapped in her monotonous hometown, where her life revolves around protecting her sister Beth (Jena Malone) from her abusive husband, JJ (Dave Franco), and avoiding a romance with Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov). To make matters worse, she finds herself a key part of an FBI investigation targeting her estranged father (Ed Harris). It is a part of the past life that she claims to have distanced herself from.
The arrival of Jackie (Katie O'Brien), a drifting bodybuilder vying to make it big in a Las Vegas competition, signals the beginning of a new chapter in Lou's life. After a night of sex and dope, the two become inextricably linked to each other. The sparkling, intoxicating romance is arguably the film's greatest element, often putting us on the knife's edge between pleasure and pain. In many ways they symbolize Hollywood's greatest (and most dangerous) couples, exuding raw emotion with every look, embrace and passionate argument. Through its sheer physicality, their romance becomes a progressive treatise on female desire itself, finding strength in dirt and impurity.
However, their dream-like relationship turns bitter when Jackie commits a brutal crime of passion, trapping the two in a spiral of violence and drug use that they struggle to escape. The more they try to evade their predicament, the more they are forced to confront their dark past.
O'Brien establishes herself as a star in the making, reveling in rare physical performances and vulnerability. Her polished character is home to a stunning, blood-curdling transformation, capturing a character so disturbed that it becomes impossible to look away – even in the most disturbing and disturbing moments. However, despite how deranged her character has become, O'Brien never forgets to give her a human edge.
The never-better Stewart embodies both the woman and the killer Love lies bleeding, breathing life into a character who is as strong as she is flawed. Her treatment of Lu unfolds as a provocative critique of “strong female characters,” where her flaws and mistakes become her most admirable and triumphant qualities. By embracing her imperfections, Stewart reveals a bold new approach to femininity. Ed Harris also shines in a wild and imposing turn as the film's main antagonist, chewing the scenery – and a vermin at one point – as a man desperately clinging to his rotting criminal empire.
Glass buds Love lies bleedingWith a distinctive eye, armed with a visual ingenuity that reflects the heart and brutality of her surreal world. Combined with the abrasive editing, which often bathes certain sequences in nightmarish neon red, the film begins to emulate an overly high level of its heroes' headspace. Love lies bleeding It injects itself into us like the stimulants used by Lou and Jackie, coursing through our veins and forcing us to hallucinate with them. An effect that can become a bit startling as it slides toward its disastrous conclusion.
Love lies bleeding It takes wild swings that don't always land, but when they do, Glass's second outing fires on all cylinders — like a roaring, abused machine. The particularly bizarre climax may jump out at some viewers, as it never betrays its sincere and campy heart. This commitment to such physical strangeness is the key to its mesmerizing power, giving us a kind of doomed romance that is rarely matched by the genre.
