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Love Lies Bleeding, GFF24, review by Pat Byrne

Love Lies Bleeding GFF24 Opening Gala

Fasten your seatbelts, folks as sex, drugs, violence and bitterness explode onto the screen in Rose Glass’ movie ‘Love Lies Bleeding’. Rose Glass’s second film, following her debut, the critically acclaimed Saint Maud, was the choice for the Opening Gala at GFF24. It premiered at Sundance and the Berlin International Film Festival – this unique, fast-paced, tense and brutal movie was an exciting choice to open the festival.

The main character is Lou (Kristen Stewart), who manages a seedy gym, where she meets and starts a tempestuous relationship with Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a destitute but ambitious body builder with her eyes set on winning a competition in Vegas.  Coincidentally Jackie is about to start working at a shooting range run by Lou’s father (Ed Harris) a – violent criminal, who plays low key sinister to perfection – make up and hair need also to take a bow.

Lou’s family cause her a lot of pain and she particularly worries about her sister (Jena Malone) who suffers at the hands of a hateful abusive husband (Dave Franco).  Love and hate sit in disharmony throughout the movie and blood flows with the extreme methods chosen to resolve risky relationships and threats of disclosure. It says a lot for the talent of writers Rose Glass and Weronika Tufilska, plus the brilliant acting by Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian, that amidst all the brutality, somehow the tenderness of the young women’s relationship is captured.

Love Lies Bleeding is an absorbing bloodbath. It’s not a dark comedy but has a clever quirkiness with some scenes creating high anxiety with a tiny tinge of amusement creeping in.  I won’t forget that cat lapping at freshly spilled blood as the police sit nearby. And, the final scene played out, dark as it was to a degree, uneasy laughter could be heard in the cinema.

Love Lies Bleeding (2024)

Director: Rose Glass

Screenwriters: Rose Glass, Weronika Tofilska

Starring: Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, Dave Franco, Ed Harris

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