“Love Lies Bleeding” (2024) 3/5 ***
“Love Lies Bleeding” (2024), directed by Rose Glass, is a thriller/ crime indie film depicting a chaotic lesbian relationship between stand-offish gym manager, Lou, and homeless yet ambitious body-builder, Jackie. The two meet when Jackie stops in a barren small town, visiting and training at Lou’s gym en route to Las Vegas, where she hopes to follow her dreams and win a renowned bodybuilding compe- tition. The relationship starts out swimmingly, though rapidly goes awry as a result of steroids, Lou’s family’s criminal history and some ghastly impromptu murders. While grotesque, graphic and unnecessarily violent at times, it was exciting to see a film with ‘80s neo-noir aestheticism that portrayed a queer relationship as normalcy.
Interestingly, the relationships in this film were anything but healthy. Glaringly obvious was the animosity between Lou and her brother-in-law, as he frequently domestically abused her sister – once even landing his wife in the hospital. Beth, Lou’s sister by name, refused help from her sister or from authorities, insisting there was no issue. Lou, unsurprisingly, is frustrated by this, feeling that her sister is idiotically blinded by love. Ironically enough, Lou herself is blinded by the same Achilles heel by the end of the film; it is undoubtedly stunning to the audience when Lou insists, during a tender moment, to Jackie that she loves her and that she is, and always will be, perfect after Jackie goes Incredible-Hulk, killing and maiming several people. Maybe it’s just the steroids! This, overall, feels like a commentary on codependency in relationships and, perhaps, the different forms it can take that can lead to toxicity – ranging from domestic abuse to obsession, infatuation and fear. Illustrating an unhealthy straight relationship and having a queer relationship – to an extent – mirror it adds to the feeling of normalcy and ease that LGBTQ+ relationships can exist outside of background roles and tropes or stereotypes.
One critique I must add is on the unnecessary addition of fantasy and fiction. Right at the climax, when Lou and Jackie are going through it with Lou’s father, Jackie magically quadruples in height, becoming a giant, and overpowers the father. Like, what? Is that supposed to be a metaphor for something? Could the creators not think of a way for the duo to get out of the mess they made? And then they just run through the clouds … eventually returning to normal size. Perhaps this was supposed to be a side effect of Jackie going too hard with steroids, but that sort of thing should be painstakingly obvious to the viewers, and it probably shouldn’t come at a time when the plot is everything.
Otherwise, the ending was not bad. In general, I think it’s usually a safe move to make stand- alone films have an open ending. It sucks to have to imagine what might become of the characters as a viewer, but it’s also cool to have to think about it; movies that leave you thinking about them after the end credits scroll by are the best, obviously. Riding off into the sunset is always romantic … even if that romance is a little tainted by a body count.
All in all, I enjoyed watching “Love Lies Bleeding” and would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind a lot of whiplash or some gore. It also helps that the co-stars are insanely attractive.