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Kristen Stewart: “We all have a little monster inside us”
Actress Kristen Stewart on the red carpet in front of the Berlinale Palast. photo
© Monika Skolimowska/dpa
Hollywood star Kristen Stewart has brought a wild and stirring love thriller to the Berlinale with “Love Lies Bleeding”. In an interview, she explains what the film reveals about us all.
According to Hollywood star, people have Kristen Stewart all has something mysterious inside her. “What builds us up also destroys us. And we all have a little monster inside us,” the 33-year-old told dpa on the occasion of her new film “Love Lies Bleeding” in Berlin on Monday. Rose Glass’s thriller celebrated its international premiere at the Berlinale.
“Love Lies Bleeding” is a thriller about two women who meet at a gym and whose relationship spirals out of control. The film takes place in a small town in New Mexico in 1989. One day, runaway Jackie (Katy O’Brian) comes to the gym where Lou (Stewart) works. The two fall in love, but their relationship is tested by conflicts with Lou’s violent brother-in-law and her criminal father. Jackie wants to take part in a bodybuilding competition. To support her, Lou supplies her friend with steroids. But these make Jackie aggressive, which has devastating consequences.
“The love story was really moving and beautiful, but also super honest,” Stewart said. “I wanted to love Lou so much, but in the end I just thought: God, every one of us, humanity is so terrifying.”
“Love Lies Bleeding” is an extraordinary romantic thriller full of entertaining plot twists and bloodthirsty moments. Set to atmospheric 80s sounds and in the style of a noir thriller, Stewart and O’Brian impress with strong performances. At times the film drifts into the grotesque and fantastic.
“When I saw the movie, I was so shocked,” Stewart said. “Sometimes the way you feel is so extreme. I think acting has become too subtle. People are so much more extreme in real life than in the movies. And it was nice to be reminded of that. One inner experience is so vivid. When you’re in love, for example, it feels like you’re on drugs. It feels like the world is upside down. Like everything is bright neon colors. And that’s the great thing of films that we can physically perceive this and put into action a feeling that is within us.”