What happens when a wholesome high school glee club star enters into a turbulent lesbian romance only to end up in a sordid world of drugs, sex, and stripping? Unfortunately we don’t have the answer, but you can catch the theatrical and VOD release of Bare by Brazilian-American director Natalia Leite to get an idea. Admittedly, the story isn’t actually about a wholesome high school glee club star, but Bare’s star Dianna Agron is perhaps best known for her six-year run as reformed mean girl Quinn Fabray on Glee, and in her latest film she bravely takes her career into new and more risqué artistic territory.
Agron plays a sheltered small-town girl named Sarah who falls head over heels for Pepper, a mysterious drifter played by Paz de la Huerta. One thing leads to another and Sarah takes a job at a roadside strip club where Pepper also happens to sell drugs. As Sarah and Pepper begin to discover genuine feelings for one another, Sarah’s downward spiral eventually leads to a moment of reckoning.
Bare premiered to warm reviews earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival, with particular praise showered on Agron for her daring performance and willingness to wade into erotic territory. The official trailer definitely gets across some of this erotic energy and gives us a taste of the film’s slick cinematography, while Leite’s background in music video directing is apparent in the heavy reliance on music and rapid editing. Overall it seems Leite has given a stylish flare to this sensitive reflection on self-discovery through losing your sense of self.
Bare opens in theaters, and on digital and VOD, on October 30, 2015 as a Sundance Selects release.