Rating – ***1/2
You need balls to watch ‘Love Lies Bleeding’ (LLB). This statement couldn’t be more ironic as we are talking about a queer love story between two women that ‘break bad.’ It is fascinating how ‘love’ becomes a tool more than a feeling to do despicable things in this saga. Lou (Kristen Stewart) is cleaning toilets at a gym she works at while getting hit on by one of her colleagues, and she is not interested in her. Jacky (Katy O’Brian) is a jacked-up aspiring bodybuilder, who is running hoops to get a job and work towards Vegas’ body-building competition. The more you see the film and the initial storyline of the budding romance between Lou and Jacky, the more you realise how cliched it actually is. But obviously, things cannot always be so merry and hell breaks loose soon. What you don’t anticipate is just how crazy hell does break loose and things go wild.
The portrayal of the female gaze has evolved immensely and LLB is yet another addition to that. There is a constant sense of fragility amid the herculean appeal of Jacky that attracts Lou and perhaps, even you, the viewer. It becomes so easy to be invested in their love story, which has you rooting for them. But the carnage, gore and sheer madness that follows feels like a roller-coaster ride. On the one hand, Dave Franco’s role of being an abusive husband to Lou’s sister is the sole factor that justifies the protagonists’ decision-making. Still, with further developments, the idiosyncrasies take over which have you wondering.
You keep trying to feel that there is genius in this madness, and there is – where the inner fight that Lou and Jacky are going through is a thread that you hold onto and connect with the most, and even feel for. It helps that both Stewart and O’Brian deliver sensational performances, especially Stewart – who helms this film with an underplayed portrayal but extremely effective. To be a male and marvel at a female’s body but in the most masculine manner possible is the kind of perplexing ride of emotions you might go through as a man – just like I went through. The sound design in the film is so amazing that every flex by Jacky where her bicep, tricep or quadriceps are zoomed in is assisted by that crunching sound that has you gazing at it even further.
I had the privilege to see the film in its raw and uncensored version but that won’t be the case for everyone once it releases with cuts. That might play a part in its intended impact – not with the nudity but with the graphical bloodbath it showcases. As the director, Rose Glass, who only directs her second feature film is so evidently influenced by some of the finest in the business, ranging from David Lynch to the Coen Brothers and so on. But this doesn’t act as a hindrance and instead becomes a subtle homage. Also, how can you ever have a dreadful and scary-looking character and not have Ed Harris play that role? It’s a given.
There are questionable decisions taken by Glass as a filmmaker and that is where you feel that she gets too indulgent and even rogue; which feels like she is in tandem with her protagonists, who seemingly have no sense of retribution towards the end. But in the end, Love Lies Bleeding acts as a mostly entertaining gore fest where the more tender emotions reign supreme. Also, how can you not watch anything with Kristen Stewart in it? She makes bad movies tolerable and this one ain’t bad.
