Reclusive gym manager Lou falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder headed through town to Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou’s criminal family. A film by Rose Glass, starring Kristen Stewart, Katy O’Brian, Dave Franco, Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, and Ed Harris.

Jacqueline “Jackie” Cleaver (Katy O’Brian), an aspiring bodybuilder from Oklahoma, is in a New Mexico town looking for quick cash to fund her trip to a bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas. She meets JJ (Dave Franco) who promises her a job at the Louville Gun Club, and they later have sex in his car. The next day, JJ introduces Jackie to his boss, Lou Langston Sr. (Ed Harris), and she acquires a job as a waitress at the gun range.

Lou (Kristen Stewart), a reclusive gym manager, stops by Beth’s house to pick up her sister’s children for school. Beth (Jena Malone) suffers from a broken arm and some bruises on her face. Lou suspects Beth’s abusive husband, JJ, is responsible, but she doesn’t say anything.

At the Crater Gym, Lou notices Jackie, a female bodybuilder with an incredible physique working out and thinks about her for a moment. Lou is then approached by William O’Riley (Orion Carrington) who claims to be an old friend of her father and asks about him. Lou tells him that they no longer speak. O’Riley then asks about her mother, if she knows where she is now. Lou becomes agitated and refuses to say anything. O’Riley gives her an FBI name card and asks her to call him when she’s ready to talk.

After O’Riley leaves, Lou feels annoyed witnessing Jackie flirting with a guy at the gym. So, she turns off all the lights and announces the gym is closed, requiring everyone to leave. Outside, Jackie encounters Lou smoking and asks for a cigarette. She inquires if Lou owns the gym, but Lou replies she only works there. Their conversation is interrupted by Chester (Keith Jardine) and Mike (Jerry G. Angelo), the guys Jackie flirted with earlier. Chester asks if she’d like to join them for drinks, but Jackie declines, choosing to stay and talk with Lou. Instead of leaving, Chester warns Jackie that Lou is a dyke, but Jackie doesn’t seem bothered. As Chester attempts to pull Jackie away, she throws a punch at his face. He retaliates with a punch of his own. Lou quickly intervenes, separating them, and takes Jackie back inside the gym.

Lou and Jackie continue their conversation inside the gym. Jackie reveals she’s been hitchhiking for a while from Oklahoma, aiming to reach the finals of a bodybuilding competition in Las Vegas next month. Lou shows Jackie a box full of steroid bottles. Jackie initially refuses, insisting she can’t afford them and that her muscles are natural. However, when Lou offers them for free, claiming they’re leftovers from a bulk order by the gym guys, Jackie decides to give them a try. As a result of their connection, a romantic relationship blossoms between Lou and Jackie.

The next morning, Jackie tells Lou she has to go work at a shooting range outside of town. Lou warns her against it, revealing that her father owns the place and isn’t a good man. Despite this, Lou lets Jackie stay at her apartment. At the shooting range, Lou Sr. teaches Jackie the basics of gun shooting. When Jackie isn’t waitressing, she trains at the Crater Gym, likely for free given her connection to Lou. Lou secretly buys steroids for Jackie, keeping her in the dark about the fact that they aren’t actually free.

After dragging on with the ambiguous narrative for half an hour, the predictable encounter that will change everything finally arrives at the dinner table. There, Jackie learns a shocking truth: JJ is Lou’s brother-in-law. Lou threatens JJ not to abuse her sister Beth. JJ tells Lou that he had sex with Jackie the first night she arrived in town and that Jackie is probably with Lou because she’s taking advantage her for free stuff. Lou threatens JJ not to abuse her sister Beth. JJ counters with a cruel remark, claiming he had sex with Jackie the first night she arrived in town and suggesting Jackie is only with Lou for free stuff.

The next day, Lou and Jackie rush to the hospital where Beth has been admitted after likely being battered by JJ. Witnessing Lou’s intense breakdown, Jackie becomes emotionally distraught. Beth is the sole reason Lou remains in this town; she cares deeply about her sister. Fueled by anger, Jackie steals Lou’s pickup truck and drives straight to JJ’s home. There, she breaks in and brutally beats him to death by repeatedly smashing his head into a coffee table.

Directed by Rose Glass and co-written with Weronika Tofilska, LOVE LIES BLEEDING is a genre-bender, offering a blend of romantic thriller with shocking bursts of the supernatural and fantastical. Kristen Stewart delivers a captivating performance as Lou, a reclusive gym manager drawn to the ambitious bodybuilder Jackie.

Nothing really happens in the first 30 minutes, resembling a drawn-out music video that could benefit from tighter editing or further development. As their connection intensifies, a shocking act of violence throws their lives into disarray, plunging them deeper into a dangerous criminal underworld. The film’s trajectory becomes fairly predictable, with anything that can go wrong getting worse.

Although the film never explicitly explains what Lou’s father actually does, except for a few scenes showing crates of guns possibly being shipped illegally across the border into Mexico, is he an arms dealer? The filmmaker throws in a few scenes that feel like a delusional dream painted in a a red hue without any explanation. Did he kill someone? What’s the importance of the victim to the film’s plot?

While the film exhibits a stylish aesthetic and strong central performances, particularly from Stewart and O’Brian, it struggles with underdeveloped subplots and supporting characters. The narrative takes intriguing twists and turns, but the exploration of these elements feels incomplete. This lack of depth ultimately weakens the film’s impact, leaving viewers with a forgettable resolution despite the initial promise of its twisted premise. Even Stewart’s performance, while strong, doesn’t offer much we haven’t seen before, except perhaps in the opening scene where she unclogs a toilet with her hands.

Two of the film’s most memorable characters are Lou Sr., portrayed by Ed Harris, whose presence exudes an incredibly unsettling mood. The other is Daisy, played by Anna Baryshnikov, a quirky and obnoxious girl with unpredictable behavior. She knows what she wants and does what’s necessary to get it.

I still can’t understand what happened to Lou’s mother who disappeared 12 years ago. If Lou’s father didn’t kill her, or if he repeatedly denies killing her, why does the film keep mentioning Lou’s mother if she seems irrelevant to the plot? That being said, the FBI’s current search for Lou’s mother adds another layer of confusion.

LOVE LIES BLEEDING is quite a disappointment, especially considering Rose Glass’ incredible directorial debut SAINT MAUD.

LOVE LIES BLEEDING premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 20 January 2024. The film received a limited theatrical released in the United States on 8 March, before expanding nationwide on 15 March, by A24.