After shortbread and whiskey, Ewan McGregor is one of the best exports to come out of Scotland. From his early turns in the genre shaking Trainspotting to flexing his musical talents in Moulin Rouge and, of course, his time as a younger Obi Wan Kenobi, McGregor can do it all. For his latest film, Bleeding Love, he ventures into indie drama territory and brings his daughter Clara McGregor along for the ride.
In Bleeding Love, the McGregor’s play an estranged father and daughter who are thrown together on a cross-country road trip in the wake of daughter’s overdose. Father himself is a surviving addict, desperate to save his child before she goes too far down his own dark path. However, the fact that father has now moved onto a new life with a new wife and child causes friction and daughter is very much a caged animal waiting to explode.
That the characters are credited as simply father and daughter helps open up the story wider than the film itself. Problems with addiction often run in the family and there is a strong chance that Bleeding Love will heavily resonate with a chunk of the audience. The ambiguity of the identities of the pair enable the viewer to transfer their own feelings and life stories onto the screen, creating a far more personal connection.
It has been obvious since Trainspotting that McGregor is exceptionally talented, and with Bleeding Love, Clara proves that she has inherited her father’s talents. Acting alongside such an established name is a lot of pressure, but the younger McGregor manages it beautifully. A character of few words, Clara expresses all of daughter’s inner turmoil through her facial expressions and physicality. For much of the film she is essentially a coiled spring. Waiting for the inevitable moment when she snaps becomes the primary point of conflict in the otherwise loose narrative structure.
Given their authentic familial connections, the chemistry between the duo is of course excellent. Their exchanges of small talk during the many legs of their road trip feel completely natural and it’s almost as though you are watching the real McGregor’s driving across America. Some of this is helped by the fact that Clara McGregor had a hand in the script, co-writing with both Vera Bulder and Ruby Caster. Even the anguish feels based in fact, and Clara has gone on the record as saying that, although fiction, she did draw on aspects of her own occasionally tricky relationship with Ewan. This grounds Bleeding Love further, blurring the lines between real-time therapy session and fly-on-the-wall documentary. It also makes this a film for anyone who has a less than perfect relationship with a parent; director Emma Westenburg effortlessly catches that complicated cocktail of feelings of resentment and unconditional love.
The title stems from the Leona Lewis song ‘Bleeding Love’ and the hit record is heard at several key moments of the story. Its use is intrinsic to the story and will take on new meanings, ensuring that it will be viewed in a different light once Bleeding Love finishes. The flip from romantic to familial love works surprisingly well and its use throughout the film sees it constantly changing. From a breakthrough bonding session of father and daughter singing along to the radio, to the song helping daughter navigate her way through a dark encounter, who knew that ‘Bleeding Love’ could be so versatile?
Heavy on emotion and rich with words not said, Bleeding Love places the viewer in the centre of this tumultuous family dynamic. The result is an intimate slice of life drama that really digs into the complex emotions of familial estrangement and the ties that bind.
Bleeding Love
Summary
Both Ewan and Clara McGregor are on top form in this exploration of a broken bond between father and daughter. That it was in part created from the authentic connection between the leads’ in their own real lives, enriches the emotional quota, which makes Bleeding Love all the better with its inclusion.
Bleeding Love was reviewed at Glasgow Film Festival 2024. Bleeding Love arrives in UK cinemas from 29th March 2024.
