Sitting in the reception area of the filthy gym she runs in the middle of the New Mexico desert, Kristen Stewart (Los Angeles, 34 years old) seems to dream of a life away from such a painful place. Hairstyled in an asymmetrical
mullet
cut —short in front, long in back—and dressed with studied dishevelment, she appears on screen for the first time to unclog a toilet. Around her, sweaty bodies submit to the dictatorship of
fitness
and inject themselves with anabolic cocktails to comply with her dogma: without effort there is no reward; She doesn't gain muscle without suffering
.
“Pain is the fragility that leaves the body,” says a poster hanging on the wall. It takes place in the United States in the late eighties, those of late
Reaganism
, but it could take place anywhere in the world today.
These are the first seconds of
Blood on the Lips
, the surprising lesbian
noir
that hits theaters this Friday, starring a Stewart who no longer looks like the one we used to know. Other actresses would have been scared by this violent and excessive material, which includes rough sex and serial murders, doses of
pulp fiction
and many more of
body horror
. She had no fear. “I was amused by this sordid nightmare, if not just that. When I read the script, it seemed to me that it contained multitudes,” she responded at the end of February in a hotel
suite
in Berlin, passing through the film festival in the German capital. "In every interview they ask me: 'What do you want people to take away after seeing the film?' I suppose they want me to answer that my projects aspire to change the world, to make us better people. But we don't make films for that, but to ask ourselves questions about who we are, to recognize ourselves in them. I liked that the movie was morally ambiguous. As women, we are always asked to do the right thing. It doesn't happen to men."
Stewart plays the daughter of a local mobster (Ed Harris, creepy), who senses an escape route to a better future when she meets Jackie, a beautiful bodybuilder played by Katy O'Brian, a former martial arts fighter with a face. of Maria Schneider and the body of the Hulk. Her goal is to reach Las Vegas (the best end of the journey for wandering souls, with permission from Los Angeles) and win a
bodybuilding
competition that will make her rich and famous. What follows is a tale of bloody revenge, peppered with humorous violence and fantastical realism. Produced by A24, the fashion studio, the project is a strange artifact within commercial cinema, which draws on the B series but nourishes it with messages about the cult of the body, toxic masculinity and indomitable desire. It is directed by the British Rose Glass, who debuted in 2020 with
Saint Maud
,
an acclaimed religious and crypto-lesbian horror story. In this case, the director truffles the result of cinephile references, from
Thelma and Louise
to
Desert Hearts , the
queer
cult work
that Donna Deitch directed in the eighties, through
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman
, although Glass manages to carry the result to its own and deeply original terrain.
“In today's cinema everything is a mixture of quantities known from films that have been successful. If there is no equation that guarantees that it will work, it is very difficult to get a budget. We work in an industry that wants to make money, which makes it difficult to introduce a bit of novelty, which is what attracts me,” says Stewart. He knows that it is not always in his hands. “I'm just an actress, I'm a hired gun. Finding a bit of risk is not very common. I have done a lot of commercial cinema and I have not enjoyed part of that experience. I don't want to make films that are just entertainment. Making movies is a lot of fun, but having to make the same movie over and over again is demoralizing, dehumanizing and horrible.” Have you chosen to film only what scared you? “Before it was like that, I chose only what was imposed on me, but I'm getting over it. It's fun to take risks, but it's also nice to work on a film and then like the result,” he says with his characteristic cornered smile. “In any case, I realize that my instinct has worked so far, so I plan to continue using it.”
I'm just an actress, I'm a hired gun. I have done a lot of commercial cinema and I have not enjoyed part of that experience. "I don't want to make films that are only entertainment."
Bella Swan is already a distant memory. The teenager from the
Twilight
saga made her an international star 15 years ago (and then, a plagued one when her infidelity was revealed; Donald Trump even dedicated eight tweets to her and recommended his partner, Robert Pattinson, leave her). She now seems like the role against which she has built her entire career, full of choices that have made her the undisputed star of the most audacious American cinema. Since the saga ended in 2012, Stewart has worked with David Cronenberg, Woody Allen, Kelly Reichardt and Ang Lee. She earned an Oscar nomination for playing Lady Di under Pablo Larraín and won a César thanks to Olivier Assayas and
Sils Maria
, in addition to being one of the few openly gay Hollywood stars, as are some of the roles in she. Does she aspire to make
queer
cinema
? The actress, sincere but not candid, dodges the bullet: “It's exciting that they let Rose make this movie.” She hits all the boxes: she embodies the fluidity of the present, the new feminist awakening and the demands of auteur cinema, but she also masters the language of social networks and the importance of impact images, as demonstrated by her low-cut legs in some recent photos.
In her latest roles the difference between actress and character is diluted, as happened with the great Hollywood stars of the past. Katharine Hepburn always played a role, but she was also always herself. She was just like Bette Davis in the forties or Jane Fonda in the seventies. Or, in the idolized French cinema of her, actresses like Isabelle Huppert or Juliette Binoche. “She's a huge compliment,” blushes Stewart, who agrees. “I like there to be continuity between my roles. It's a particular philosophy that I don't think many actors follow today. Playing only one character is a way of self-protection, of separating your life and your work, of taking everything with great professionalism,” adds Stewart, using the word in its worst sense, as a synonym for a civil servant attitude. “I believe that you can't be anyone but yourself. And even if there are stories that enlighten you about aspects that are buried in you and allow you to unearth them, you can only dig in your own sandbox. I feel like when I walk away from myself I'm failing, like the goal is always to dig deeper and deeper until I find something real. Yes, it's me in all the movies. And all of them are part of me.”
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