Line #3 Film/LoveLiesBleeding


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/loveliesbleeding.png]]
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3	''Love Lies Bleeding'' is a 2024 American romantic thriller film directed by Rose Glass, written by Glass and Weronika Tofilska and produced by Creator/{{A24}} and [=Film4=]. It is Glass's second film, following on from the very different ''Film/SaintMaud''.
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5	In the 1980s, a reclusive gym manager, Lou (Creator/KristenStewart) falls hard for Jackie (Creator/KatyOBrian), an ambitious UsefulNotes/{{bodybuild\|ing}}er headed through town to Las Vegas in pursuit of her dream. But their love ignites violence, pulling them deep into the web of Lou's criminal family.
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7	The film also stars Creator/JenaMalone, Anna Baryshnikov, Creator/DaveFranco and Creator/EdHarris. It released on March 8, 2024.
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9	'''Previews:''' [[https://youtu.be/BF_J3-DmiS0 Trailer]].
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11	!!''Love Lies Bleeding'' provides examples of:
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13	* EightiesHair: Jackie and Lou both sport very '80s hairdos, particularly the latter having a mullet. On the male side, JJ sports a ratty mullet, and Lou Sr. sports a glorious skullet.
14	* AbhorrentAdmirer: Lou is pursued by Daisy, an obsequious druggie, and does everything she can to keep away from her.
15	* AbusiveParents:
16	** Lou Sr. forced Lou into helping with his criminal empire and turns a blind eye to Beth being abused by her husband JJ, who works for him.
17	** Jackie's adoptive mother calls her a "monster" when she calls home.
18	* AllForNothing: [[spoiler:Under the influence of steroids and unwilling to give up her dream, Jackie ignores Lou's instructions and goes to Las Vegas for the bodybuilding competition. Thanks to the steroids, not only does she not win, but she humiliates herself by hallucinating and vomiting on stage, then assaults another competitor for laughing at her, which lands her back in Lou Sr.'s hands, now much worse off than she was before.]]
19	* AmbiguousSituation:
20	** Jackie's [[spoiler:[[{{Sizeshifter}} size-shifting]].]] Is it because of the performance enhancing drugs Lou gives her? Or was she born like this, repressed it, and the drugs merely brought it out? Evidence for the latter theory is that Lou gives similar drugs to other people at the gym but no one else [[spoiler: has become a giant.]] Also, during a phone-call home, Jackie's relative calls her a "monster", though it's not specified what she meant. Another possibility is [[spoiler:Jackie isn't a size-shifter at all and her size changes are just metaphors for her emotional state. This is implied during the end when both Jackie and Lou are shown as giants running away together.]]
21	** What happened to Lou's mom? Lou accuses her father of killing her. He says she abandoned the family because she hated him, and her daughter. We do not learn her fate, though [[spoiler:an FBI agent claims that she was ready to step forward with evidence against Lou Sr., giving him plenty of motive to kill his wife]].
22	* AssholeVictim:
23	** [[spoiler:JJ, who abused Lou's sister Beth, gets beaten to death by Jackie under the effects of her roid rage after his abuse puts Beth in a coma at the hospital.]]
24	** [[spoiler: Daisy, who sexually harasses Lou at the gym and blackmails her for sex]], is shot by [[spoiler:Jackie, and eventually finished off by Lou]].
25	* BlackComedy: Several scenes of violence are darkly humorous, including the ending, where [[spoiler:Lou drags Daisy's corpse away from the road, then stops to rummage in the dead girl's purse to steal a cigarette, all while Jackie sleeps unaware]].
26	* {{Blackmail}}: Without making any threats, Daisy effectively blackmails Lou with [[spoiler:her knowledge of Lou's involvement in the murder of JJ]] into getting Lou to accept dating her.
27	* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:Daisy]] is killed by a single gunshot to the head, though [[spoiler:it turns out that she's not quite dead]].
28	* ButchLesbian: Jackie (a female bodybuilder) is in a lesbian relationship with Lou, who also comes off as butch with her mullet, tank tops, and pick-up truck. Midway through the film Jackie clarifies she's bisexual. This is apparently what Lou is into, given her copy of ''Macho Sluts.''
29	* ChekhovsSkill: Lou Sr. teaches Jackie how to shoot a pistol even though she DoesntLikeGuns. Later, she uses a pistol to [[spoiler:land a clean headshot on Daisy]].
30	* ColorMotif: Red. Flashbacks and some scenes around the gorge are presented purely in ominous red.
31	* CruelMercy: [[spoiler:Once Lou Sr. has been taken down, Lou considers shooting him in the head, but ultimately chooses to instead let him suffer the indignity of being arrested while helplessly lying on the ground.]]
32	* DarkAndTroubledPast:
33	** Lou is estranged from her parents. In the end, it's implied that [[spoiler:she was forced or manipulated into killing people for her father]].
34	** Jackie says she was adopted at the age 13 but left her home with no money or prospects for unspecified reasons. When she phones home, her adopted mother calls her a monster.
35	* DirtyCop: Lou Sr. has a cop on his payroll who helps cover up his crimes and even [[spoiler:agrees to assassinate his daughter]].
36	* DisposingOfABody: Lou Sr. has a gorge where he disposes all the people who would rat out his gun-running operation. Lou and Jackie also find themselves with bodies to dispose of.
37	* DoesntLikeGuns: When Jackie is asked by Lou's father if she likes guns, she answers "Not really".
38	* DomesticAbuser: JJ is a vile piece of work who beats his wife, Lou's sister Beth. One incident lands Beth in the hospital and makes Lou say out loud that she wants to kill JJ. [[spoiler:Hearing this, a 'roid raging Jackie beats JJ to death, setting off the rest of the movie.]]
39	* DrugsAreBad: Lou gets Jackie into steroids to bulk up her physique even more, [[spoiler: and what Jackie does in a fit of 'roid rage ends up kicking off future events.]]
40	* EasilyForgiven: Lou seems to quickly forget the fact that [[spoiler:Jackie tried to shoot her immediately after killing Daisy]].
41	* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
42	** Lou is rude and hostile to people while doing disgusting tasks at work, showing that she's a bitter person without much going on and that she often gets stuck [[LiteralMetaphor cleaning up after others]].
43	** Jackie punches a gym rat who's twice her size after he makes an insulting remark even though it gets her punched as well, showing her propensity for reckless violence.
44	* EvenEvilCanBeLoved: Deconstructed; despite her husband JJ being an utter scumbag, Beth still loves him, and [[spoiler:she's devastated by his death, angrily railing against Lou for it. Beth's dedication to JJ, rather than being a sign of compassion on her part or that there's anything worthwhile about him, is shown to be at the cost of her relationship with Lou, who ''genuinely'' cares about her. Lou ultimately calls Beth a moron for her loyalty to a man who did nothing but hurt her and the sisters part on very bitter terms.]]
45	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Discussed and defied. When JJ's burned-up car is discovered in the gorge, the sheriff immediately knows it's a [[MakeItLookLikeAnAccident fake accident]] because cars don't actually explode when they crash. It only happens in the movies.
46	* {{Foreshadowing}}: We see ''WesternAnimation/GulliversTravels'' playing in television early in the film, in which Gulliver picks up a Lilliputian. In the end, [[spoiler:Jackie grows to gargantuan size and picks up Lou Sr]].
47	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: As the camera focuses on Jackie snoozing in the truck, Lou disposes of [[spoiler:Daisy's corpse]] in the background and takes a smoke break.
48	* GainaxEnding: Played With. [[spoiler: After Lou's father shoots her, there's a few moments where Jackie, now somehow 50 feet tall, pulls him off her and pins him down until she and Lou, who has also grown 50 feet tall, escape hand in hand. This is never explained, although the next and final scene shows Lou and Jackie in the car together, driving away, so it seems it's likely just an emotionally charged version of what actually happened.]]
49	* GreenEyedMonster: Lou gets instantly jealous when she sees a male gym rat hitting on Jackie. She immediately closes the gym down to shut it down.
50	* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler:Lou Sr. orders Jackie to shoot Daisy due to witnessing her trying to dispose JJ's body for this reason. He is also suspected of having killed his wife for this reason years in the past.]]
51	* HiddenDepths: Daisy isn't exactly a bright bulb, but she picks up on the clues that [[spoiler:Jackie and Lou were involved in JJ's murder]].
52	* HollywoodHealing: Lou gets shot in the leg. By sun-up, she's not even limping.
53	* LockAndLoadMontage: Lou locks and loads a pistol before setting out to confront her father.
54	* LoveHurts: [[spoiler:After killing Daisy to protect Lou]], Jackie calls her adoptive family and tearfully tells her sister to never fall in love because it hurts so much.
55	* LoveMakesYouDumb: Like any good film noir, most of the bad situations in this movie could have been avoided if the protagonists weren't blinded by love. More directly, Lou calls her sister a moron when she won't stop loving JJ even after JJ put her in the hospital.
56	* MagicalRealism: Granted, the scenes in question could be read as abstracted versions of the actual events, but in an otherwise pretty gritty crime drama [[spoiler: Jackie might be [[{{Sizeshifter}} capable of growing to gigantic proportions]] rather than just buff]].
57	* MercyKill: After the climax of the movie, Lou discovers that [[spoiler:Daisy is still barely alive in the back of her truck. She chokes her to death and disposes of the body]].
58	* MissingMom: Lou's mom left when she was in her teens. [[spoiler: It is strongly implied that she was murdered by Lou Sr. when she attempted to expose his crimes to the police.]]
59	* MushroomSamba: As Jackie gets further into steroid addiction, she experiences hallucinations and dissociation. [[spoiler:An especially powerful hallucination occurs as she's competing in Vegas, causing her to assault her fellow competitors and get arrested.]]
60	* NeverARunaway: Implied. [[spoiler:Lou's mother is described as having run away from the family and their criminal lifestyle. The [=FBI=] agent says that her mother was actually prepared to come forward against Lou Sr., which strongly implies that he killed her or had her killed.]]
61	* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: After Jackie shoots Daisy in the face, Lou wraps her body in a carpet and eventually pulls it down to her truck. In the final scene, Daisy starts moving in the bed of the truck, revealing she survived... until Lou goes back into the bed and finishes the job]].
62	* PetTheDog: [[spoiler:After JJ's death]], Lou Sr. takes pity on his neglected pet bird and takes care of it.
63	* PistolWhipping: Lou delivers a hard one to Nick the dirty cop after he fails to take her out.
64	* PsychoSerum: A TruthInTelevision example with Jackie’s steroid addiction.
65	* RedRightHand:
66	** Lou Sr. couldn't look more unsavory with his curtain of long hair draping down from an otherwise bald head.
67	** The drugged out and cheerfully amoral Daisy sports a mouthful of grey teeth.
68	* RentAZilla: What starts out as a gritty neo-noir with a QueerRomance angle ends with [[spoiler:the two female leads as [[GiantWoman Giant Women]], although it's implied to be all in the characters' minds.]]
69	* ShootingGallery: Jackie works as a waitress at a shooting range.
70	* ShoutOut:
71	** Daisy suggests that she and Lou go to Winkies, which is the diner in the lesbian noir-with-a-MindScrew aspect, ''Film/MulhollandDrive''
72	** JJ notes that the recent release of ''Film/DieHard'' has made the gun range quite popular.
73	** Rose Glass has [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/berlin-love-lies-bleeding-director-rose-glass-interview-1235823387/ stated]] that ''Film/ThelmaAndLouise'' was an inspiration for this movie. We eventually learn that Lou's full name is Louise.
74	* VertigoEffect: A subtle one is used during Jackie's bodybuilding performance to show her slipping mental state from steroid abuse.
75	* WhamShot: [[spoiler: The shot of JJ's face, or rather what's left of it, when Lou goes to his house to find Jackie.]]
76	* WifeBasherBasher: When JJ puts Beth in the hospital, Lou openly contemplates ending him once and for all. [[spoiler:Jackie, meanwhile, actually does so.]]

Context Film / LoveLiesBleeding