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.[4] 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.[5]
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.[6] 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.[7]
It had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7, 2024.[11] 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.[12] 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.[13] Following TIFF, the film was next shown in public as the Secret Screening at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 10, 2025. It was also the closing night film for the 2025 South by Southwest, screening on March 13, 2025.[14] The film was released in the US on April 25, 2025.[15] In France it was released under the title Les Indomptés ('The Untamed') by Metropolitan Filmexport on April 30, 2025.[16] In Spain it will be released by the indie distributor Beta Fiction Spain on July 25, 2025.[17]
Marketing
The marketing of the film has been criticised by publications including Variety and the Washington Blade for frequently downplaying, and sometimes not mentioning, the fact that many of the characters and relationships in the film are LGBTQ. Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge noted in his review that the film was "a gay love story" and pointed out that this had not been mentioned in some of the official marketing materials. “It feels like the opposite of a spoiler — something between a consumer service and a selling point — to address what the festival capsules only coyly imply, using phrases like “self-discovery” (Toronto) and “exploring a love she never dreamed possible” (SXSW).” Debruge also stated that official plot synopses for the film had been “deliberately deceptive” and misled people about the nature of the connection between the male and female leads, as well as the fact that these synopses avoid mentioning that both characters are actually involved in same-sex relationships in the film. "The… queer period drama explores the challenges of coming out in the 1950s, as two characters attracted not to one another — as those deliberately deceptive plot synopses would have you think — but to members of their own genders."[18]
The Washington Blade, the oldest LGBTQ newspaper in the US, praised the film but criticised the way it had been promoted, noting that "Sony Pictures’ promotions avoid referencing queer sexuality of main characters." In a review, John Paul King said: "You might not know it from the publicity campaign, but the latest big-screen project for breakout “Euphoria” actor and sex symbol Jacob Elordi is 100% a gay love story" and "unequivocally a “Queer Movie”." King described the relationship between Elordi and Diego Calva's character as "joyously queer-affirming", and went on to criticise the fact that the promotion of the film had downplayed this: "Sony Pictures’ promotions for the film – which avoid directly referencing the sexuality of its two main characters, instead hinting at “secret desires” and implying a romantic connection between Elordi and Edgar-Jones – feels not just like a miscalculation, but a slap in the face." The review concluded by commenting that the film's positive message about queer relationships should be something to be highlighted, not concealed in the marketing: "Though it’s an eloquent, quietly insightful look back at American cultural history, it incorporates those observations into a wistful, bittersweet, but somehow impossibly hopeful story that emphasizes the validity of queer love. That’s something to be celebrated, not buried."[19]
Box office
As of June 12, 2025, the film has made $1,173,382 at the box office.[2]
Reception
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 50% of 108 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "On Swift Horses capitalizes on a steadfast cast while grappling with contemplatively rich themes of society, sexuality, and morality to a mostly astute end."[20]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[21]
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."[22]
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.”[23]
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."[24]
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 symbolbona 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."[25]
Germany’s leading queer magazine wrote: "The two boys work nights at the casino and spend their days in bed together having sex in their fine ribs. Fans of soap operas will get their money's worth, as will Elordi fans. Everyone else can look forward to a satire of the unintentional kind."[26]
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.”[27] The soundtrack was digitally released by Madison Gate Records on April 25, 2025, the same day as the film's theatrical release in the United States.[28] In addition to Orton's original score and Kramar's "Song for Henry", the soundtrack also included an a cappella cover version of the 1950s song Mr. Blue, as performed by Kramar over the opening credits of the film.[29]
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