InLove Lies Bleeding , passionateness and cultism are n’t things you feel . They ’re drugs you put in . The soph feature crusade fromSaint Maudfilmmaker Rose Glass is a sweaty , hefty thriller that wanton in the messiness of romance . It ’s a motion-picture show that sample to straddle , though not always successfully , the phone line between the real and metaphysical — introduce dreamlike figure of speech of forcible transformation and society between its scenes of rough sex , violence , and last . It is a blunt - force instrument that pip you enough times over the head that you buy fully into the seemingly cosmic major power of its central love story , even if you stay on a spot dubious about the specifics of its plot .
Above all else , it reiterates Kristen Stewart ’s status as one of the human race ’s premiere bad - CRT screen performers and Glass ’ esthetic interest in the delirious delight that can sometimes be found in pain . Like Morfydd Clark ’s fanatical individual care worker inSaint Maud , who walk on metal spikes to find closer to her faith , the two buff at the center of Glass ’ latest motion-picture show achieve rapture through effort , whether they ’re smashing the faces of those they detest , bury the bodies of those they ’ve shoot down , or lifting system of weights .
Love Lies Bleedingisn’t set literally in the underworld , but it might as well be . Not only does its first image , a low - angle dig of two canon paries lit by a bloodcurdling red light source , immediately evoke ideas of hellfire and aeonian damnation , but it ’s set in the kind of equivocally southern , palpably seedy American town that makes one inevitably think about thing like purgatory if they have the inauspicious pleasure of being trapped there long enough . UnlikeSaint Maud , which finger unwaveringly rooted in Glass ’ British rearing and special obsessions , Love Lies Bleedingis a broader pic . Its setting is so vaguely Texan and dimly eighties that it does n’t feel lived - in so much as it does inherited — namely , from all the many southerly American crime thrillers that distinctly revolutionise it .
The film , consequently , lack some of the specificity and bite of Glass ’ feature directorial debut . Ben Fordesman ’s nocturnal , harsh motion-picture photography partially makes up for that , as do Stewart and Katy O’Brian ’s performances as its leads . The former superstar in the thriller as Lou , a lesbian gym managing director who is desperate to get away from her criminal father , Lou Sr . ( a cartoonishly styled Ed Harris ) , but feels obligated to stick in her hometown and take care out for her sister , Beth ( a much chicken - fried Jena Malone ) , who refuses to divorce her scurrilous , walking red flag of a husband , J.J. ( Dave Franco ) . When O’Brian ’s bodybuilder drifter , Jackie , wanders into Lou ’s gymnasium one Nox , the two quickly come across up a yanking , apparel - tearing romance .
Behind the photographic camera , Glass fit out of her way of life to emphasize the physical nature of Lou and Jackie ’s kinship . In their first meeting , Jackie bop a misogynistic homophobe in the font , and it ’s only a few minutes by and by that Lou is severalise her to deflect over so she can throw in her with steroids . Several sex scenes follow — all comprised of uncontrolled hand-held camera takes and close - up shots of sassing kissing and hired man fascinate . These scenes stylistically differ from the firmness of Jackie ’s weight-lift workouts and posing subroutine , but Glass ’ unappeasable focus on her performer ’ body means they achieve the same effect . She ’s not a filmmaker afraid of literalise her metaphor ( as she does multiple times throughoutLove Lies Bleeding ) , but her greatest potency is her ability to visually spotlight the most tangible aspect of her throw out of kilter , often surreal cinematic world and the performances captured within them .
Before long , Jackie and Lou ’s Molotov cocktail of a family relationship has erupted in a dual turn of tearing rebelliousness that inevitably sets Lou Sr . ’s sights on his estranged girl and her pardner ( in honey and in criminal offense ) . asunder from one shocking illustration of coerced violence , the twists thatLove Lies Bleeding‘s crime plot of land has to propose are n’t all that surprising , and the film could have benefitted from spending more fourth dimension in the actual fallout of Lou and Jackie ’s actions . By using her leads ’ hotheaded decisions as a vessel to explore the psychological effects of Lou ’s toxic familial kinship , though , Glass does total a level of prissy discomfort toLove Lies Bleedingin its second number that , at sure points , becomes intolerable .
Stewart ’s performance only adds to that face of the film . The actress attractively balances both Lou ’s self-assurance and her frustration with her own debilitate sense of powerlessness . Her turn inLove Lies Bleedingis one of microexpressions and diminutive inside information — notice , for instance , the manner the pitch of her voice rises in her terminal conniption with Harris and how that only further reenforce the placeable parent - tike dynamic of their character ’ otherwise abnormal kinship . Many of the film ’s support form , include Lou ’s father , are too underwritten for the actors playing them to make much of a lasting impression . Stewart nonetheless aptly anchors the thriller with the assistant of O’Brian , who similarly shinny in a role that asks her to seem simultaneously muscular and wide - eyed .
The means in which Stewart and O’Brian manage to rise aboveLove Lies Bleeding‘s many underbaked elements is at last emblematic of the film itself . The thriller is an imperfect success that further establishes Glass as a optic stylist of considerable power , but one ca n’t ever shake the intuitive feeling that it ’s just a bit thin than it should be . Fortunately , whileLove Lies Bleedingfalls forgetful as a heart - wracking offence potboiler , it works well as a blood - soaked Romance language that acutely interpret how love has the mightiness to make you feel both superhumanly substantial and feeble than you ’ve ever felt before — no matter how much smoothing iron you pump .
Love Lies Bleedingis now playing in theaters .
