Kristen Stewart’s most recent and talked-about role is in director Rose Glass’s second feature (after the haunting Saint Maud). Love Lies Bleeding is a queer love story of crime and bodybuilding, in which Lou (Stewart), a lonely gym manager, falls for ambitious bodybuilder Jackie (Katy O’Brian), who dreams of moving to Las Vegas. But Lou’s family’s criminal past soon becomes an obstacle in their path. The film made a splash at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
Stewart doesn’t play the lead role in Adventureland, but her part is crucial. The story follows James (Jesse Eisenberg), a disillusioned college graduate forced to take a dead-end summer job at an amusement park after financial troubles ruin his plans. The film is packed with nostalgia and bittersweet charm, but its heart lies in the undeniable chemistry between Eisenberg and Stewart.
This is without a doubt one of the best films of Kristen Stewart’s career, and her first notable collaboration with French director Olivier Assayas. Clouds of Sils Maria follows Maria (Juliette Binoche), an acclaimed actress who rose to fame playing Sigrid—a seductive young woman who drives an older woman, Helena, to suicide. Now older, Maria is asked to return to the play, but this time in the role of Helena. Stewart plays Maria’s assistant, a complex and fascinating character in her own right. For her performance, Stewart won the César Award (one of France’s most prestigious film honors).
Once again, Stewart plays a supporting role that proves crucial to the story. Still Alice centers on a brilliant linguistics professor (Julianne Moore) who begins suffering the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s disease, while her family struggles to cope. Stewart plays one of Alice’s daughters—the only one who faces her mother’s illness head-on, without condescension, preserving her dignity and humanity.
Stewart reunited with Jesse Eisenberg in Woody Allen’s period comedy Café Society. Set in 1930s Hollywood, the film follows a young man who goes to work for his powerful uncle, a talent agent, only to fall for his secretary, Vonnie (Stewart), who is secretly having an affair with a married man. Even if it’s not one of Allen’s best, Stewart’s nuanced performance helps ground the love story at the film’s core.