On Swift Horses

On Swift Horses is a 2024 American romantic drama film directed by Daniel Minahan and adapted by Bryce Kass. Based on Shannon Pufahl's 2019 novel, it stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Jacob Elordi, Will Poulter, Diego Calva and Sasha Calle.

It had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024, and will be released in the US by Sony Pictures Classics on April 25, 2025.

Premise

Muriel and her husband Lee are beginning a bright new life in California following his return from the Korean War, which is upended by the arrival of Lee's charismatic younger brother, Julius. Lee is keen for the three of them to build a new life together in San Diego, but Julius decides to travel to Las Vegas instead, where he finds employment in a casino and meets Henry, a male co-worker. Julius and Henry fall in love and the two men begin a secret romantic relationship, including living together in a motel room. Meanwhile, Muriel embarks on a secret life of her own back in California, gambling on racehorses and discovering a love she never thought possible after meeting a female neighbor, Sandra.

Cast

Daisy Edgar-Jones as Muriel, Lee's wife
Jacob Elordi as Julius, Lee's brother, a Korean War veteran
Will Poulter as Lee, Muriel's husband and Julius' brother
Diego Calva as Henry, Julius’ lover
Sasha Calle as Sandra, Muriel's neighbor and lover
Kat Cunning as Gail
Don Swayze as Terence

Production

Producer Peter Spears and director Daniel Minahan announced in July 2021 that they were developing the film with Tim Headington and his production company Ley Line Entertainment, and that Bryce Kass would be adapting the novel by Shannon Pufahl. Mollye Asher and Michael D’Alto of FirstGen Content, along with Theresa Steele Page of Ley Line Entertainment, would later join Spears, Minahan and Headington as producers of the film, with financing from Ley Line Entertainment and FirstGen alongside Wavelength. The film's executive producers are screenwriter Bryce Kass, Alvaro Valente, Christine Vachon and Mason Plotts for Killer Films, Nate Kamiya and David Darby for Ley Line Entertainment, Randal Sandler, Claude Amadeo and Chris Triana for FirstGen, and Jennifer Westphal and Joe Plummer for Wavelength, along with Lauren Shelton, Jeffrey Penman, Jacob Elordi, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Teddy Schwarzman and John Friedberg.

Principal photography was confirmed to have begun in Los Angeles on February 28, 2023. Diego Calva told Variety that he and Jacob Elordi have some "pretty hot scenes".

Release

It had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024. In October 2024, Sony Pictures Classics acquired distribution rights to the film in North and Latin America, Turkey, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, India, Italy, Australia and New Zealand. A Variety article drawn from conversations with SPC co-president Michael Barker, mentioned the film as being a part of the company's slate for the following year. Following TIFF, the film was next shown in public as the Secret Screening at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 10, 2025. The film will be released in the US on April 25, 2025. It was the closing night film for the 2025 South by Southwest, screening on March 13, 2025. In France it will be released under the title Les Indomptés by Metropolitan Filmexport on April 30, 2025. In Spain it will be released by the indie distributor Beta Fiction Spain on July 25, 2025.

Reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 71% of 24 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 68 out of 100, based on eight critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Jourdain Searles of The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the film is "beautiful, heartbreaking, and demands to be seen on the biggest screen possible. Elordi gives his best performance yet as Julius, showing his more sensitive, vulnerable side on the big screen for perhaps the first time. His love scenes with Calva are tender and exciting...Calva proves his memorable turn in the underrated Babylon two years ago was just a warm-up. He's got so much more to offer." Regarding Edgar-Jones, Searles wrote that "in perhaps her meatiest role since Normal People, Edgar-Jones gives an understated performance as Muriel, letting us get to know her through subtle gestures and expressions."

Christian Zilko of IndieWire gave the film a grade of A-, praising the writing, cinematography, and direction: "Bryce Kass's script (based on Shannon Pufahl's novel of the same name) straddles an ideal line between sentimentality and bitterness, while [director] Minahan and cinematographer Luc Montpellier shoot everything from torrid sex scenes to Christmas Eve moonlight strolls with the elegance that it deserves.”

Nicolas Rapold of the Financial Times wrote that "Minahan and his cast don't reduce Julius's or Muriel's affairs to a vehicle for prestige tragedy or steamy entertainment. Their experiences feel as if they might reflect any one of countless lives or loves constrained by social conformity and bias at the time. While glamour could dazzle on screens and red carpets at the festival, the handsome stars...are put in the service of something that at times can feel even rarer—ordinary emotional truths."

Meanwhile, in a more dissenting review, Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood contends that too many plot developments are interwoven "throughout this disjointed movie, which can't seem to decide which thread to follow or which character to focus on, and so it does it all. Edgar-Jones also seems to have a tough time getting a real handle on just who Muriel is...Poulter is the poor lost soul in all this, and he could have been the antagonist...but he's really a good old boy. Elordi is becoming one of the most interesting actors around, especially after Saltburn and Euphoria have cemented his sex symbol bona fides. If they ever remake Hud, he's the guy. However, it is Calva, the discovery from Damien Chazelle's Babylon, who is the standout, an intriguing character to be sure. And Calva hits all the right notes—in and out of bed with Elordi. [Also] Montpellier's golden-hued cinematography really reflects California's allure of the times, and the film looks terrific."

Soundtrack

The original score of the film was composed by Mark Orton. An original song for the film, “Song for Henry”, was written by the singer-songwriter Loren Kramar and Sean O’Brien and performed by Kramar for the soundtrack. In a post on Instagram, Kramar said: “To be a part of this project, which has everything to do with queer lives and the ongoing pursuit of self, is a privilege.” In addition, Daisy Edgar-Jones has mentioned that the soundtrack for the film also includes a cover version of the 1950s song Mr. Blue.