Bleeding Love follows a dad (Ewan) as he and his daughter (Clara) go on a road trip to send her to rehab secretly. With Ewan McGregor and his real daughter Clara in the leads, their bond helps make up for a disjointed story and a tedious plot
The story follows Ewan’s character driving his daughter to rehab after she almost ODs. The dynamic between the two is strained to say the very least. Ewan left his daughter and started a new family, only recently coming back into her life after her overdose. While he wants to make amends, she is not ready to let him back in just yet. We see glimpses of them beginning to bond, as the movie is often intercut with scenes from her childhood of them having a normal healthy relationship. Yet again and again they find themselves at odds.
When you have a father and daughter working together, you can tap into a level of rawness and emotion you won’t get elsewhere. That is what makes this movie engaging. The fights Clara and Ewan get into tap into hit close to home. They dig in at each other where, even though it’s fictional, it is so real and believable. They each have their dirty laundry to air and are much more alike than either would want to admit.Â
The movie does drag its feet at times. Most movies like this opt to be more comedic and have various obstacles and hijinks that happen before the road trip reaches its destination. Bleeding Love treats this more as an emotional journey to bond a father with the daughter he left behind. Because of that, there aren’t many flashy, gripping moments. It does feel by the books in this regard, so when the main conflict arises, it is solved promptly. Â
The movie does hit on its emotional beats, thanks again to the father-daughter duo. In one scene in particular when Clara runs away, Ewan acts like he legitimately lost his daughter and acts like a worried sick parent asking everyone everywhere if they’ve seen her. As the movie ends, you can see the love and the respect on their faces after everything they have been through.Â
FINAL THOUGHTS
Bleeding Love is very alright. I think it’s too safe at points and disjointed at others. But at other times, the dynamics of Ewan and Clara McGregor power this movie. I wasn’t the biggest fan of all the cutaways of Ewan playing with a younger Clara but I get why they were there. Bleeding Love is an interesting watch that I’d recommend.Â
