Always Good Movies

Direction: Rose Glass
Country: USA

Directed by Rose Glass, the director of the critically acclaimed Saint Maude (2019), Love Lies Bleeding is a muscular and psychologically probing feminist thriller with a 1980s look and neo-noir moods inspired by films like The Wrestler (2008), Bound (1996), and Crash (1996). Working from a script she co-wrote with Weronika Tofilska, Glass manages to achieve a fulfilling narrative arc anchored by surprisingly complex performances and a surreal tinge that works both for and against the film.

This is the type of cynical crime entanglement where everyone is implicated in some sort of scheme. It is centered on the ardent lesbian romance between a lonely gym manager, Lou (Kristen Stewart), and a promising bodybuilder, Jackie (Katy O'Brian). Love conquers all, but the atmosphere in town is heavy, potentiated by vindictive characters with destructive emotions and actions that often lead to violence and death.

The film’s primal instincts are nihilistic and brooding, but it’s not short of ideas. The finely honed script plays like a greasy bucket-load of uninhibited dirtiness through its rougher patches, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. Stewart and O’Brien have a palpable chemistry, while Ed Harris is phenomenal as Lou’s creepy father, an arms dealer with influential connections to the local police.

Glass’ sophomore picture is not as masterfully visceral as Saint Maude, but the rising filmmaker reveals herself as a gifted portrayer of emotional intimacies and wrenching acts of violence.

Directed by Olivier Assayas
Country: France / Germany

Two years after the highly esteemed drama “Clouds of Sils Maria”, French writer/director Olivier Assayas tackles a psychological drama/thriller bolstered by crime and spiritualism.

Kristen Stewart is Maureen Cartwright, an American personal shopper based in Paris where she’s assisting Kyra (Nora von Waldstätten), a high profile and super-busy celebrity. Her job, a dream for many of the common mortals, consists in traveling to European cities and pick up fancy clothes and jewelry that will be worn by her client at some party or event and then returned to the store.

Even with this painless, well-paid job that provides her a good quality of life, Maureen is not at peace with herself since her twin brother Louis has died from a heart malfunction. In truth, Maureen also suffers from the same medical condition and needs a routine examination every six months. She’s advised to avoid extreme emotions and physical strains.
This is not what bothers her, though, but the fact she can’t connect with the spirit of Louis, who was a very sensitive medium and should be manifesting his presence somehow by that time, as they had promised each other.

Fearless and determined, the disheartened Maureen keeps going back to the house where Louis died to spend the night and trying to establish contact. The house, placed in a remote location in the woods, is now abandoned, and strange happenings start to occur. Is it really Louis or other intrusive forces?
To increase her anxiety, she starts getting mysterious texts on her phone from an unknown sender who seems to know all her moves.
This particular aspect of the story is easily guessable and didn’t really pique my curiosity. A harrowing crime, plus the cat-and-mouse play that results from it, is what will turn it exciting.

The film was never creepy during the ghostly appearances, but Assayas’ vision caught my attention from start to finish, especially through the emotional struggles of this seductive woman who also allows herself to be seduced by the forbidden. He had a perfect ally in Stewart, who gave an out-of-this-world performance, shaping a character that needs to find how to deal with grief and, at the same time, accept what she can’t control.
Even if not as brilliant as “Clouds of Sils Maria”, “Personal Shopper” is a worthy tale about letting things go in life, in order to live it freely.