Kristen Stewart rose to the Hollywood A-list by starring in the Twilight movies, but since then she has starred in more independent and sometimes more strange movies, which her latest, Love Lies Bleeding, would qualify for, as evident by the movie's surreal ending that concludes a gritty, violent story.
As a result, you may have some questions about what exactly happened with the Love Lies Bleeding ending, specifically the final encounter Lou (Stewart) and Jackie (Katy O’Brian) have with Lou's criminal father, Lou Sr. (Ed Harris). Well, we've got some insight into that and more on the Rose Glass-directed A24 movie.
But before we dive into that (SPOILER alert, FYI), if you haven't seen the movie yet but are eager to, read how you can watch Love Lies Bleeding as it becomes more readily available.
To recap what happens in Love Lies Bleeding, the movie is set in 1989 in the southwest. Lou is going through the motions as she runs her small-town gym until she meets Jackie, an aspiring bodybuilder that arrives on her way to a competition in Las Vegas. Jackie and Lou quickly hit it off, with Lou even offering Jackie small doses of steroids to help her train, and they start a relationship. However, things are complicated with Lou's family.
Before she even meets Lou, Jackie gets a job at a gun range run by Lou's brother-in-law JJ (Dave Franco) and her dad, Lou Sr. Neither of them is a good guy; JJ is abusive to Lou's sister Beth (Jena Malone), while Lou Sr. heads a criminal operation, including running guns and murdering people, which brings him to the attention of the FBI. Lou and Jackie aren't able to escape their orbit.
After JJ beats Beth so bad she ends up unconscious in the hospital, Jackie decides to do something for Lou. Fueled by the steroids, she attacks JJ at his home, smashing his head in. With Lou's help, they dispose of JJ's body in a ravine that Lou Sr. has used for dumping victims in the past. Lou hopes this helps bring her father down, but in the meantime they need to lie low, which means Jackie can't go to her bodybuilding competition. However, the roid rage causes Jackie to spiral, attacking Lou as she heads to Vegas on her own.
Things don't go well in Vegas though. Jackie gets sick while performing and then attacks other contestants as the drugs make her think she is being mocked. She is bailed out of jail, however, by Lou Sr., saying he is the only one who can help her now. That means helping him, which results in Jackie shooting Daisy (Anna Baryshnikov) in the head. Daisy was a townie who was into Lou but also was a potential witness against them all.
All of this results in Lou trying to settle things once and for all with her dad.
What happened to Jackie and Lou?
Lou drives to her dad's mansion with the goal of killing him and rescuing Jackie. The two have a rough reunion after everything that occurred, but their love for each other wins out. Lou tells Jackie to escape and she'll meet up with her after she kills her father.
It's Lou Sr., however, who gets the upper hand first, shooting Lou in the leg. He chastises her for ruining his operation and then taunts her that she is like her mother, revealing he killed her years ago for learning too much about his operation and threatening it. He is about to do the same with Lou when Jackie returns, but transformed into a 30-foot tall being. Jackie pins Lou. Sr. down, breaking his bones so he can’t escape as the FBI approach. Lou and Jackie are able to escape, though, as they are now both shown running through clouds, both now giants.
So what the heck was all that about?
Throughout the movie we see that Jackie's body is reacting to the steroids in a major way. Then, when she kills JJ, it seems as if she is larger than normal as she stands over his dead body. The ending of the movie is the pinnacle of Jackie's body transformation. But is it actually meant to be happening for real?
As director Rose Glass told IndieWire, yes, they took a swing for the surreal in these final moments, believing it was needed to stick to the emotional reality of the movie and Jackie and Lou's feelings for each other. When they run off through the clouds, Glass described it as their love making them feel like "you can do anything."
What does the Love Lies Bleeding ending mean?
However, that is not the true ending of the movie. Though Lou Sr. is taken care of and Jackie and Lou are heading west to start their lives anew, something keeps it from being a perfect ending.
As Lou drives while Jackie is asleep, she notices there is movement in the back of her truck. It is Daisy, whose body Lou put there earlier, not quite dead yet. Lou decides to strangle her to death then drag Daisy's body off the side of the road and sets about burying her, all while Jackie sleeps.
For Glass, this is meant to symbolize that violence is cyclical, she explained to IndieWire. Lou spends much of the movie saying she is not like her dad, but with both JJ and Daisy she was willing to do whatever she needed to do. As Glass put it, "she didn't want to let anyone off," so this final scene emphasizes that Lou is more like her father than she may care to admit.
Love Lies Bleeding is currently playing exclusively in US movie theaters. Check out what other 2024 new movies are coming soon.
