‘Love Lies Bleeding’ (2024): A Win For Queer Cinema.
I am consistently unsure whether I want to be Kristen Stewart or be with Kristen Stewart.
After years of sequels, remakes, and lacklustre blockbusters, we finally seem to be entering a renaissance of cinema where original and entertaining stories are starting to pop up in theatres once more. Barbie got people going back into cinemas by taking a refreshing look at the female experience, crafted by women for women. Not only that, but we also enter a time where queer media is trickling into the mainstream of cinema, with films such as All of Us Strangers, Bottoms, and Drive Away Dolls recently appearing in international theatres. I am ecstatic about it.
Kristen Stuart as Lou and Katy M. O'Brian as Jamie.
Set in the 80s, Love Lies Bleeding centres on Jamie, an aspiring female bodybuilder played by Katy M. O’Brian, and Lou, a gym receptionist played by Kristen Stewart, who the locals are weary of due to her status as a (insert homophobic slur here). This gritty drama features their steamy, unstable, queer relationship in the centre of a mess of steroid abuse, murder, and corruption. Both women have vague, looming pasts that make this entanglement all the more irresistible, even dangerous.
An opening shot of a chasm tinted with red gives us the first glimpse into the oblivion that is to come. It lures us in with a foreboding darkness as a grating noise rings in our ears, unpleasant but hypnotic. Moody backdrops and 80s grit frame our breathtaking leads as their desire for one another pulses through the screen. First, we are enraptured by the heat that draws the two women to each other and then comes a growing sense of dread as that heat turns into something else entirely- a vicious blaze that threatens to consume them both.
This film is all about sensation. We hear each stretch of Jackie’s body as the steroids morph her physique and her goliath strength shaking the floor as she unleashes her brute strength. The crack of her hits striking like lightning. We feel Lou’s breath leave her as she sees what Jackie is capable of and the sweat on her brow as she navigates each worsening circumstance. We see her love for Jackie even when she’s horrified by the damage she inflicts, rushing to clean up the mess. The visuals are dark and striking, each embrace between characters towing the line between an affection and an attack. Every silence is full of dread and desire. The destructive romance between Lou and Jackie is what ties it all together. The glimmer of hope that keeps you watching the brilliantly stomach-churning car crash of events that unfold. I have never gasped in a cinema like I did upon seeing the first glimpse of Jackie’s dark side (that Dave Franco moment- for those who know).
Jackie (Katy M. O’Brian).
Like Jackie’s spectacular Amazonian physique, this film is tense in all the right places, from the all-consuming romance to the moment Jackie first loses herself and the ever-threatening presence of Ed Harris in his supporting role as Lou’s shady father. Dave Franco and Jenna Malone have the heart doing somersaults whenever they are on screen together as physically abusive husband, JJ, and wife, Beth, who can’t bring herself to leave no matter how many different injuries we see on her from scene to scene. The performances are remarkable all around, with writing that does not fuck about. We know little of the characters’ backstories, but that only adds to the mystery, and we are certainly shown enough to keep us on the edge of our seats.
Lou (Kristen Stuart).
The film reaches its conclusion when finally, after days of Lou sprinting through crisis after crisis created by Jackie as the White Knight of Anxiety, Jackie steps up and rescues her right back. Her body has grown to gargantuan size at the hands of the steroids as she effortlessly pins down Lou’s father, who threatens to kill Lou. A towering giant, she sits smiling as the regular-sized Lou stares up at this marvellous beauty, and they put him in his place together. To top it all off, they then drive off into the sunset with Lou’s cat and a dead body in the trunk. Now that is a happy ending for a queer romance if I’ve ever seen one. Facing family trauma with your girlfriend and then hitting the road with your pet cat? That’s the real American dream.
Rose Glass has brought us a phenomenal addition to queer cinema. A fantastic thriller that includes queer romance at its core without queer identity having to be the driving force of the plot, great writing and cinematography, and excellent performances. Not to mention its inclusion of beloved queer icon Kristen Stewart front and centre in a role that fits like a glove. I have hopes that it remains in the minds of queer people like me who crave brutal love stories for years to come. It will certainly remain in mine.