Love Lies Bleeding

We have talked about the rise in lesbian media and how it is greatly appreciated and deeply necessary. Among those new titles are Love Lies Bleeding, one of the newest A24 films. Now I knew I wanted to see this movie, because ya know representation. But I will also have to wrestle with the fact that I am really not a fan of Kristen Stewart. As a person or as an actress. She did work with Woody Allen which is already a big, huge red flag. And honestly I just don’t think she’s that talented. She peeked at Twilight. All that said, I am finally watching it, so let’s get into it.

If we haven’t established it already, my type is women that look like they can crush me with their thighs…so ya know, good casting.

“I like to know my own strength” is a great line. Now as much as I really don’t like her acting, one of Kristen Stewart’s 3 facial expressions is relatively decent at generating chemistry. And when the person across from her is super hot it actually works.

Jackie actually has ambition, which is more than we can say for Lou. We know that Jackie wants to go to Vegas and win a bodybuilding competition and we know that Lou has daddy issues and that’s about it so far.

Okay so it seems that Lou’s father is an arms dealer, that would cause a strain on the relationship and it would explain why the FBI is after him. She also refuses to talk about her mother, whom the FBI were also interested in.

Jackie and Lou’s relationship seems to build pretty organically. Lou is a bit withholding though. Not sure how long Jackie is going to put up with that. Lou has A LOT of family issues, So far; mom is absent, dad is a psycho and her sister’s husband is an abusive prick.

Lou finds out that her brother in law had sex with Jackie…which was before they met so she can’t really be mad about it. Though I think that the actual problem was that she thinks that Jackie is just fucking her for a place to stay. But she does seem super judgy about the fact that she is bisexual. So fuck her.

I have commented on this before but there tends to be a lot of sex in LGBTQ media, at least that is the perception. And my explanation for that is two fold; 1) It's not any more sexual than straight media, and a lot of straight media contains sexual assault sooo, 2) Even if LGBTQ stories did contain more sex then other media it is a way of reclaiming a presence. For decades queer people have been told that they are gross, that they are unnatural, that they are abominations. So by portraying same sex relationships on screen we are combating that. We are screaming that we are here and we aren’t going anywhere. And we are celebrating the fact that sex is a normal, natural, human act no matter the genders of the people having it.

Wow I really hope that they kill the husband. I hope from the bottom of my heart that this wife beating motherfucker dies. YAY. I am so happy with what just happened here. God Jackie is super hot. She beat the shit out of him without breaking a sweat and I love that for her.

Well then of course they have to cover up this murder. Which they seem to have done in Lou’s dad’s favorite murder spot. So that was at least smart. And then Lou makes the mistake of locking Jackie in the apartment. Jackie, who very much still plans on going to this bodybuilding show. I think Lou is far more like her father than she would like to admit.

Jackie becomes roid ragey abusive and leaves for Vegas. Leaving Lou to clean up after her. But her plan seems to work and the cops do in fact find more bodies. But this other chick who is clearly obsessed with Lou is going to be a problem.

Jackie starts tripping out on stage, totally due to the steroids and the fact that she did just kill a guy. Then she starts wailing on one of the other contestants, obviously she doesn’t win. Jackie is really starting to spiral.

Who does this crazy man expect Jackie to kill? Oh shit! Jackie shoots the crazy girl and aims like she’s going to kill Lou. She has officially lost her fucking mind. Jackie clearly has her own family issues that I don’t think we are ever going to find out. Lou was the one that cleaned up for her dad, she has done her fair share of killing as well. My biggest problem here is that Lou was JUST talking to the feds, she had them right there and she decided to do nothing. That was really stupid.

As far as themes and what this movie is about; it appears to be a film about abusive relationships and how one can stumble into them, and how they can seem to appear out of nowhere. Dad was clearly abusive to his daughters, one of them got into an abusive marriage, Lou and Jackie ended up pretty abusive. Lou realizing that she really is her father was an interesting moment. And it literally ends with Lou killing off Daisy while Jackie is asleep in the truck. Because a couple that commits murder together, stays together I guess.

Overall I really think that it was a beautifully done film. The themes of abuse are very clear. I think it depicts how victims react to domestic violence really well. And then all of the different relationships dynamics and kinds of abuse were very present. If the academy would ever consider a lesbian crime film it would definitely be on the Oscars watch list. But we know that there is no way that would ever happen. Even so I think the performance by Katy O’Brian was incredible. Kristen Stewart was slightly more tolerable than normal. And I think that it should be at least considered for the screenwriting Oscar. With that I give it a 9/10 and encourage watching it.