Love Lies Bleeding is the story of a reclusive gym owner Lou who falls in love with drifting bodybuilder Jackie. While all seems good on the surface, Jackie gets involved with Lou’s criminal father, and the two are forced to do whatever they can to survive.
Love Lies Bleeding is an incredibly refreshing action flick with real tension. At the core of the story is the relationship between Lou (Kristen Stewart) and Jackie (Katy O’Brian). Lou balances a lot of emotions all the time: she resents her father for what he does, and she loves her sister more than anything, but she seems like she doesn’t want to be tied down. Enter Jackie, a hitchhiker from Oklahoma who has been bouncing around the country on her way to a bodybuilding competition.
They are perfect foils for each other. Lou is a local and a loner. She knows how the town is truly run and knows how to get by under the thumb of her dad. Meanwhile, Jackie is confident and free-spirited. She shows up places and she’s able to get what she wants out of them. However, she is vulnerable underneath all her muscles which is how she ends up being a pawn in Lou’s crime family. Together they are much stronger than either of them alone and the chemistry of O’Brian and Stewart sells this fantastically.
Stewart is no stranger to playing a loner type. Best seen as Bella Swan from Twilight, she knows how to always feel out of place. Katy O Brian is a firecracker. She’s full of energy and is posing charisma every second she’s on screen. It’s fun to remember that back in 2022, she replied to a Film Updates tweet saying this movie was looking for a female bodybuilder as a lead, and that sparked her getting the role. Their passion for each other felt real and they bounced off each other incredibly well.
Ed Harris plays Lou’s father, a gun-running crime lord who seems to own their entire town. He is terrifying in a way that I feel like only Harris can pull off. Even with a more ghastly frame, (multiple scenes make him look like a living skeleton) he is imposing because of his connections and his unpredictable decisions.
The story is fascinating because in one sense, I feel like I’ve seen a story where a crime family uses a love interest as a pawn, and the main character has to defeat her family to save their love before. But nothing that Love Lies Bleeding does is by the books. We learn so much about these characters that the action takes a backseat, making each decision weigh heavier and heavier than before. The secrets and twists hit like rocks.
The way fitness and bodybuilding are used in this movie is creative. Jackie’s new reliance on steroids turns her into what Zoe Rose Bryant called “A24’s She-Hulk”. It flares in times of duress, like her fight or flight reflex. Except there is no flight in Jackie’s bones. She never backs down from the fight, but that’s what makes her perfect for Lou’s father.
Some of the effects out of context are weird but the movie as a whole is very much like a lucid dream. The gore effects were very good and they had people in my audience yelling. The ending is extremely satisfying and it made me want to see more movies with Stewart and O’Brian together.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Love Lies Bleeding is an awesome movie. It’s not going to be for everyone, however. The subject matter is not going to appeal to everyone and there is less “action” than a typical action flick. But Love Lies Bleeding is a fascinating look into two crossing flames and the hellfire it sparks and it deserves to be seen.
