Film

Bare

Name: Bare
Genre: Drama
Released: 2015
Cast: Dianna Agron, Paz de la Huerta, Chris Zylka, Louisa Krause, Mary Price Moore

A tense, sensual desert noir about two women whose friendship curdles into something more dangerous and codependent. Bare treats desire as a destabilizing force, not a redemptive one. It's intimate and claustrophobic—two people in the heat with nowhere to hide. For viewers who want their queer cinema to feel uneasy.

TMDb rating

2.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you respond to intimate, slow-burning portraits of two lonely people drifting toward each other, and you can sit with a bleak, seedy mood without needing it to lift.

Skip it if you want a clear plot with momentum, since this is loose and meandering, and its gritty, low-lit mood can feel repetitive across its short running time.

What it asks of you: It runs a brisk ninety-one minutes but lingers in silences and long looks, asking you to settle into mood and watch relationships unfold rather than follow a plot.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Mulholland Drive2001

A fractured LA story where female desire and ambition tangle into something baroque and nightmarish. Like Bare, it's sensual, disorienting, and refuses easy comfort.

But Three hours of David Lynch's signature abstraction. If you need plot clarity, this will frustrate you.

Lost River2015

Ryan Gosling's fever-dream directorial debut about two women and economic desperation in a collapsing town. Same year as Bare, same mood of dread wrapped in beauty.

But Visually demanding and narratively opaque. Some find it pretentious; others find it impenetrable.

Certain Women2016

Kelly Reichardt's sparse study of three women in Montana, each alone in their own way. Quiet, precise, interested in how people fail to connect with each other.

But Glacially paced with minimal dialogue. If you're watching for plot momentum, you'll leave disappointed.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bare

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Portrait of a Lady on Fire2019

Both films understand desire as something that isolates you from the world. Both center female gazes on each other with a sensuality that never feels safe.

Céline Sciamma's French period film about a painter and her aristocratic subject falling in love. Visually sumptuous but morally complex—like Bare, it asks whether desire can ever be untangled from power.

But Slow, painterly, and almost entirely in French. If you want momentum, this will feel like watching paint dry—which, structurally, it kind of is.

The Neon Demon2016

Nicolas Winding Refn's LA fashion-world nightmare: beautiful, toxic, and deeply perverse. Two damaged women, surfaces instead of depths, consumption as metaphor and fact.

But Deliberately artificial and detached. The coldness is the point, which some readers experience as cruel.

Heavenly Creatures1994

Peter Jackson's dark romance about two girls whose friendship becomes a folie à deux. Fevered, baroque, built from someone else's true crime. Shows what obsession looks like from the inside.

But It's a real murder case. The knowing-what's-coming can make the romance feel sick in ways the film doesn't seem aware of.

The Fits2016

A girl's friendship with a dancer becomes all-consuming in a Cincinnati gym. Spare, hypnotic, sensual without being explicit. Same year as Bare; same intimacy, different register.

But No plot in the conventional sense. Some viewers need structure; this refuses to provide it.

Ginger & Rosa2012

Sally Potter's film about two girls in 1960s London, their friendship fractured by sex, politics, and a charismatic older man. Tender and angry at once.

But The third-act turn is divisive. Some see depth; others see betrayal of the women's story.

Goodnight Mommy2015

An Austrian horror film about two boys and their bandaged mother in a remote house. Isolating, intimate, and deeply unsettling. Builds dread the way Bare does.

But Visceral and cruel. The twist is shocking; some find it gratuitous rather than meaningful.

Funny Games1997

Both are about being trapped with someone who has power over you, and both use camera and duration to make intimacy feel like a threat.

Michael Haneke's home-invasion nightmare forces you to watch cruelty unfold in real time. Like Bare, it's desert-hot with dread, and it refuses to let you feel good about watching.

But Deliberately punishing. Haneke wants you uncomfortable. If you watch films to feel better, this is the opposite of that.