Addiction, abandonment, guilt, love, and fear are the major themes in the road trip film Bleeding Love. Ewan McGregor stars as a father who’s driving his estranged 20-year-old daughter (played by McGregor’s real-life daughter Clara McGregor) from San Diego to Santa Fe, New Mexico after a drug overdose almost killed her. His plan is simple: try to get to know her again and help her get clean.
They’re not long into the trip when his daughter says she has to go to the bathroom, but she doesn’t actually need a restroom; she’s okay with dropping trou on the side of the road to take care of business. Of course, it’s all a ruse, and she bolts, running off into the California desert with dad chasing after her.
Fortunately for her father, after a few minutes of this she stops and heads back to the pickup truck. Once back on the road, he asks her, “What exactly was your plan back there?” She shrugs and replies, “I didn’t think that far ahead, to be honest.”
As their road trip continues, both father and daughter will be forced to face some unpleasant truths about themselves and just how alike they really are while struggling with demons from the past and possibly finding a way back to having a real father/daughter relationship.
Bleeding Love is an uneven, meandering drama with two strong performances from Ewan and Clara McGregor. It’s a film that could – and should – have been much more powerful and moving if it weren’t for the quirky and unimportant supporting characters becoming distractions.
Ewan McGregor shines here as a middle-aged father who is trying to save his daughter from the destructive path she’s on while struggling with the guilt and shame of walking out on her when she was little because of his own addiction to alcohol. The AA scene where he shares what he calls the darkest time of his life is both heartbreaking and eye-opening.
Clara McGregor captures the different stages of withdrawal extremely well as she fidgets, scratches, and eventually gets the shakes while riding in the truck. Clara and Ewan have solid chemistry together, which isn’t always the case with relatives, and both beautifully capture the mistrust they have for each other as well as the longing to become close once again.
If the film just focused on that relationship, it would be an extremely compelling family drama. But sadly, it’s almost constantly sidetracked by uninteresting characters being interjected for almost no other point but to lengthen the film and to distract from the tension and emotion between the two leads. As a result, Bleeding Love comes up short of delivering the emotional impact and resolution it was striving for.
GRADE: C+
Release Date: Limited and Digital on February 16, 2024
Running Time: 1 hour 42 minutes
Directed By: Emma Westenberg
Distributor: Vertical
