I’m a sucker for a good film noir, or even a mediocre film noir that pushes all the right buttons. Director Rose Glass’ new flick, Love Lies Bleeding, has got my number. Glass, whose first film for A24 was the psychological horror Saint Maud, has studied the classics, and it shows. But Love Lies Bleeding is a neo-noir that uses the form as a jumping-off point, rather than being shackled to the past.
When we first meet Lou (Kristen Stewart), she is shackled to her past. She’s working at a gym in small town Texas, somewhere near the Mexican border. Much of her job entails bailing out a toilet that is perpetually clogged by the pumped up patrons. Some of that foul bowel activity may be the side effects of the black market steroids she slings on the side. The year is 1989, so it’s not a great time for Lou to be an out lesbian in Texas. Then Jackie (Katy O’Brian) walks in.
Jackie is an aspiring bodybuilder from Oklahoma, who happens to be currently homeless. In one great early shot, she does pull-ups on a pipe under a bridge while trucks rumble by overhead. She gets a job at the local shooting range by showing the manager J.J. (Dave Franco) a good time in the parking lot of the club. Before she even has a place to stay, she uses the money to join Lou’s gym. Jackie’s ultimate goal is to compete in a bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas, and from the looks of her extremely stacked body, she’s got a shot at a trophy.
Lou certainly notices Jackie’s assets, and after the two of them run off some alpha males who aren’t bright enough to realize they’re barking up the wrong tree, they fall into bed together. Glass has a lot of fun shooting the sex scenes, bathing these two unconventional beauties in blue light like an erotic thriller from the 1980s. Over a morning-after omelette, Jackie admits she doesn’t have a place to stay and asks if she can crash on the couch. Lou makes clear that’s not where she’ll be sleeping.
Another 1980s trash cinema trick Glass has down pat is the training montage set to pop music. I’m sure they would have loved to have had “Eye of the Tiger” play while pushing in on Jackie’s ripping muscles, but Clint Mansell’s pulsing electronic score gets the point across nicely. Jackie’s single-minded pursuit of physical perfection gets a boost when Lou introduces her to steroids. Unfortunately, this new chemical enhancement proves destabilizing to Jackie’s already fragile psyche. Glass uses flashes of psychedelia to draw us into her deteriorating mental state. The gun range where Jackie works just happens to be owned by Lou’s estranged father Lou Sr. (Ed Harris) who, it turns out, is using the range as a front for his gunrunning operation, supplying weapons to Colombian drug cartels. There’s always an element of Greek tragedy in a good film noir, where the characters carry their doom in them, just adjacent to their strength. Lou Sr. teaching a woman in the throes of spiraling steroidal psychosis to use a gun certainly qualifies.
Lou’s cut the old man off, but she keeps in touch with her older sister Beth (Jena Malone), who is being brutally abused by her husband J.J., the amorous gun range manager. When J.J. puts Beth in the hospital, and Lou finds out about Jackie’s prior carnal knowledge of J.J., the pressure becomes too much, and Jackie lashes out. The repercussions of her violence spread through this small town in true noir fashion, with framing, counter-framing, bushwhacking, and betrayal around every corner.
Glass’ direction is confident and occasionally daring, and her two leads sizzle off the screen. The ending swerves hard toward the magical in a way I’m still not sure I’m on board with. Film noir is outwardly cynical, but the greats, like Out of the Past, always have a romantic core — even if the fire of love ultimately consumes the lovers. Compared to the corrupt world of Love Lies Bleeding, Lou and Jackie’s toxic relationship looks downright healthy.
Love Lies Bleeding is now playing at Malco Collierville, Paradiso, Stage, and Wolfchase cinemas.