“..anyone can be big behind a gun, I prefer to know my own strength..”
Love Lies Bleeding is a palpable gritty 80’s neo-noir, and one of the more arresting revelations of 2024:
It’s Natural Born Killers for queers
It’s Bound on steroids
It’s Thelma & Louise but juiced up
It’s Boys Don’t Cry in psychedelic expressionism
It’s the sweaty, distant cousin of Titane
There is even an unsuspecting nod to Attack of the 50 Foot Woman that will catch many off guard (but the film sets this up earlier on a TV playing at the main character’s house)! Yet all these influences never feel derivative or distracting. It’s a rainbow-themed cocktail with a strong punch, with Lynchian dreamscapes set to a fantastic Clint Mansell score (a Throbbing Gristle musical reference thrown in for good measure).

Set in 1980s New Mexico, our story follows Lou (Kristen Stewart), a gym attendant who falls in love with a bodybuilder called Jackie (Katy O’Brian). In the opening scene, Lou is shown unblocking a toilet filled with vomit (there’s a tongue-in-cheek parallel to Pablo Larraín’s film Spencer, which shows Stewart’s Princess Diana hugging a toilet.) Lou’s father, a gang boss (Ed Harris) whose activities the pair get caught up in, has a Hunterian-esque collection of insects. In a fit of rage, he bites the head off a live cockroach.
Later, he sticks his finger into his daughter’s open wound……and that’s just a taste of things to come in this wicked tale. While director Rose Glass’ debut Saint Maud centered on body horror; the aesthetic terrain of Love Lies Bleeding, is disgust. Puke, blood and pus seem to be Glass’ calling card (or her fetish) – puking being one of the symptoms of withdrawal (in a film touching on steroids abuse)
It’s not by happenstance that Love Lies Bleeding is set in the Reagan Era – a more conservative time when American women’s value was measured by how dutiful, devoted and nurturing they are. Before, unlikable women often hovered on the fringes of Hollywood stories: your Nurse Ratched, your Mrs. Danvers or the first Mrs. De Winters. Female protagonists and women in general are supposed to be likable, charming, safe stereotypes. Expectations pushed on females from a young age and plastered on shirts for girls to wear—slogans to remind them they should “be kind”, “smile”, “be a little princess”, and so on. So, when they’re not, it’s jarring and often uncomfortable.

As such, females are rarely allowed anger, otherwise they are deemed unstable or irrational. The goal isn’t to make female protagonists who are aspirational, but a female protagonist with the ability to be whatever they could be. I want them to be interesting, not likeable. If women can be anything they want, they can damn well be dark too. These characters need interiority—desires, doubts, vulnerability, motivations. And it takes art like this to occasionally scratch that wholesome female veneer!
Katy O’Brian is truly a breakthrough within this pitch-perfect performance, with subtlety and brutal force.
Kristen Stewart is now the punk-princess of independent cinema. She is now a force of nature able to throw herself with bravura in both story and character.
Ed Harris is remarkable and terrifying down to his menacing long hair. You can tell he was having fun as an Iggy Pop-looking mobster.
I’ve always found Dave Franco to be an unlikeable presence in films compared to his brother James (ironic really considering that in real life Dave seems much more likeable and decent), so I found he was perfectly cast as a walking sack of pathetic pus.
I feel like A24‘s secret to success is just their willingness to allow auteurs to follow their ideas for better or worse. Without spoilers, no gays were buried in this body-building, body horror, crime spree romance. “Revenge gets ripped” is probably the best promotional line I’ve seen all decade. Love Lies Bleeding delivers as advertised. Glass’ sophomore effort is a truly impressive mixture of sapphic sexiness and grotesque violence. Just be warned if you happen to have a thing for muscular women you’ll be leaving with a nosebleed!

Chaitanya Tuteja is someone who enjoys sharing his thoughts on books, movies, and shows. Based in India, he appreciates exploring different stories and offering honest reflections. When not reflecting on his favorite media, Chaitanya enjoys discovering new ideas and embracing life’s simple moments.