“If you go to IMDb and look up all the genres attributed to this film, you find all of these: mystery, romance, thriller, crime, adventure, action,” said Karel Och, artistic director of KVIFF, before the Czech premiere of Love Lies Bleeding. “That’s a package that deserves something special. A leading figure in Czech bodybuilding heard about today’s screening, so you’re in for something very unusual,” he said. Shortly before 11pm, he gave floor to the bodybuilder Lucie Jakešová, who encouraged the packed cinema hall to warm up to disco music before the screening.
The film about the love between a gym owner and a bodybuilder, directed by Rose Glass, was thus introduced with lively exercise instead of words. “Let’s do some fitness, very nice, come knees, hips, triceps and shake it up!” she encouraged the Grand Hall. The Hotel Thermal hadn’t been this lively for a long time. The adrenaline eventually faded as the lights dimmed, and the neo-noir love story on steroids with Kirsten Stewart in the lead role, which had already made a splash at the Sundance and Berlinale film festivals, could take over.
