PearlDreams of stardoms are common, but fame is rare indeed. And for some, like Pearl (Mia Goth), a simple country girl with aspirations of making it big as a dancer in the movies, anything that threatens her dreams twists her reality into a waking nightmare. Pearl is a prequel to Ti West's horror movie, X, set in 1918 in the Midwest, where Pearl suffers under the weight of her ambitions, and fears that she will never get to experience the wide, wide world. Her mother, Ruth (Tandi Wright), discourages her from socializing, because they are Germans at the end of World War I and because of the prevalence of the Spanish Flu, which has crippled her father (Matthew Sunderland). But Pearl's dreams are too big for reality, and she's willing to burst every and any barrier in her way to becoming a star.
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As a prequel, it's fundamentally impossible to discuss how Pearl meshes with X without spoiling either. So on that note, for those who've already seen X, you know that Pearl was revealed to be the crazy old lady who goes around killing all of the younger people who came to her farm to secretly film a pornographic movie. The sole survivor of that massacre, Maxine--who was also played by Mia Goth--killed Pearl at the doorstep of the farm and drove off for parts unknown. (But stay after the credits for Pearl for a hint of what her future holds.) But this film doesn't try to explain why the "psycho-biddy" butchered those youngsters some sixty years later, but explores another facet of 20th century psychosis instead--the kind fueled by a twisted fixation on fame and adoration. What might have been little more than an odd casting choice to have Mia Goth play both Maxine and Pearl in X becomes more relevant in Pearl. Both women have a kind of "X factor", as other men like to say about what makes a star, but it's a more unsavory sort of drive that they have instead. For Maxine it was a kind of protest at her strict religious upbringing. In Pearl's case, there is something far more unsettling at play in her mind. Her mother is strict with her in a way that almost stereotypes the ascetic German farmer, but her coldness goes beyond a mere fear of persecution or further infection. She sees something malevolent in Pearl, and outright tells her so. The question lingers as to whether Pearl was always crazy or if something (like her mother) drove her to it. Pearl is unsubtle about establishing early on that she is psychologically warped. What follows a scene of whimsical dance in her barn with a pitchfork while chatting with the livestock--who she has named after movie stars--she cruelly slaughters a goose and feeds it to a crocodile she cares for in the swamp. Definitely not normal behavior. So between this prologue and the foreknowledge that this is a prequel about a murderess, much of watching Pearl comes down to the audience waiting for her to break down and go on a killing spree. But the film is patient with building to these scenes, and does a surprising amount of sympathizing with her beforehand, always challenging the audience with pitying someone we know is just going to turn into a monster anyway.
Pearl is married to a young soldier named Howard (Alistair Sewell), who chose to fight in the war. The lonely, frustrated Pearl is left on the farm with her stern mother and invalid father, feeling like she's never going to escape her lot. When her mother sends her into town to procure some medicine (morphine) for her father, she spends the change by going to the theater. Since Pearl is set in the midst of the pandemic that was "The Spanish Flu", it indulges in drawing deliberate parallels between our own "post-Covid" world and this one from a century ago. Her mother is convinced that contagion is everywhere because of how it has devastated her spouse's ability to care for himself. (Sound familiar?) Pearl enjoys the movies while "masked up" along with virtually everyone else. (Although she removes it to take a swig of her father's medicine for herself while watching the follies on the silver screen.) Leaving for home, she crosses paths with the projectionist (David Corenswet)--a self-described bohemian--who shamelessly flirts with her despite knowing that she is married. He offers her a cigarette, and reassures her that he "doesn't have the bug". He entices her to come back and see him later, telling her that she's pretty enough to be in movies. It is really his role in the world of movies which attracts Pearl to him despite herself, I believe, more than sexual frustration. En route home, she loses a frame of the movie she adored in a corn field, and comes across a scarecrow. Her arousal surfaces, and she straddles the strawman while fantasizing about the projectionist. And after an apocalyptic fight with her mother one night, where tensions boil over and lead to tragedy, Pearl returns to the projectionist in the pouring rain, embraces and kisses him, and they sleep together. Afterward, he shows her a stag film (actually reputedly the earliest known stag film, called A Free Ride)--which is about the only sexually explicit content in Pearl, as opposed to the abundance of it in X. Insistent that she get home so that she can be ready for a dance audition--which she has everything riding on by this point--he drives her home. Interestingly, she chooses to spend her time making out with the projectionist instead of practicing. So in addition to the question as to exactly when Pearl went "crazy", there is also the question about when her sexuality became tied into it. Was it always there? Is the implication of this film and its predecessor that--like it is said about the majority of poetry--that sex and death are inexorably intertwined? Compared to its predecessor, Pearl is almost puritanical with its depiction of sexuality, and I believe that this is kind of the point. Pearl represents someone for whom repression is a way of life. Her mother, like Piper Laurie in Carrie to an extent, all but denies her any kind of indulgence; she even calls Pearl "selfish" for dancing in her own room in one of her dresses. This movie makes numerous cinematic references to the earlier film, predominantly concerning shots of places in and around the farm, suggesting that these kinds of resultant tragedies repeat themselves. Lingering shots on the screen door of the farmhouse, for instance, are meant to carry a double meaning: here is where Pearl will die many years from now, but here is also the gateway to where so much pain has been trapped for her. These walls hold much sorrow.
There is a sour mix of tragedy and black comedy in Pearl. She sees herself as wholesome, determined, and driven to find her way through moxie and a can-do attitude. She convinces herself that what she does is right, and suffers terribly owing to her poor judgment. In this, she shares much in common with the protagonists of several films by Lars von Trier--most especially Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark from his "Golden Heart" trilogy--all about women ground down by a world that operates on a totally different wavelength than they do. Her look and apparent innocent, down-home appeal is a clear nod to Dorothy of The Wizard of Oz; but anyone familiar with the tragedy of Judy Garland--who Pearl's design is likely inspired by--knows how this is exemplified in her. Pearl molds herself around her dream of stardom, and yet it isn't something that she's really suited for. Regardless of whether or not she is a victim of her overbearing mother, she is a narcissist who loses the ability to distinguish dream from reality, right from wrong. In this, she reminds me of Ken Ogata's Iwao Enokizu from Shōhei Imamura's Vengeance is Mine, also also about a charismatic yet narcissistic serial killer. Both see themselves as the heroes of their own fantasies, as people who are ostracized or victimized by a cruel and unfeeling world. But in truth, they are self-absorbed and convinced that they are entitled to the greatness the world owes them in their eyes. The most telling example of this is when Pearl comes to the church for the dance audition, alongside her sister-in-law, Mitzy (Emma Jenkins-Purro). Mitzy and Howard come from an affluent family that has tried to be charitable to Ruth, who is too proud to accept their generosity. Mitzy seems truly warm toward Pearl and tries to foster a friendship with the farm girl, despite their differences in lifestyle. But Mitzy is nervous at performing, especially after watching girl after girl flee the church in tears after not getting the part, so asks Pearl to go ahead of her. When Pearl takes the stage, the movie gives way to a vivid song and dance number with patriotic fireworks and dancers in army uniform appearing behind her. Her impassioned performance would be considered exemplary by any standard; and yet...she doesn't get the part. The judge tells her that she lacks that "X factor", bluntly clarifying that they want someone "younger" and "blonder" instead...like Mitzy. So that whole routine we saw was all really just in Pearl's head; it's anyone's guess how she actually performed, but it stands to reason that she really isn't much of a dancer anyway. But that's not the reality she wants, so she collapses in tears and screaming, bawling her eyes out after everyone has gone, except Mitzy who takes her home. This is followed by a lengthy confession by Pearl in her farmhouse, during which Mitzy does her best to restrain her shock at her sister-in-law confessing to a triple homicide and several other acts of cruelty and sin. Pearl is heartbroken, ironically, because she realizes that she has no "heart". She is driven by dark impulses, and regrets that this is her reality. She's discovered who she really is...she just doesn't like the answer. Like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, she is confronted with the hollow revelation that even the knowledge that she is "not right" does nothing to salve her inner torment. That her world is one of darkness, and there is no greater understanding that comes with this awareness, no true regret for her atrocities. There is no "Pearl"...just an "idea" of Pearl in her mind. She has become an actor of sorts, like she always intended...but the role she is condemned to perform is of herself, until someone just like her comes along many years later to put her out of her misery.
Recommended for: Fans of a psychological horror set a hundred years ago, when hysteria for fame and global problems like war and disease were just as predominant as they are today. Pearl uses the framework of a melodrama to lure us into sympathy for our murderous heroine, but even having pity might be a stretch given the cruelty which is at the core of Pearl--an evil with a strained, painful smile.
Pearl is married to a young soldier named Howard (Alistair Sewell), who chose to fight in the war. The lonely, frustrated Pearl is left on the farm with her stern mother and invalid father, feeling like she's never going to escape her lot. When her mother sends her into town to procure some medicine (morphine) for her father, she spends the change by going to the theater. Since Pearl is set in the midst of the pandemic that was "The Spanish Flu", it indulges in drawing deliberate parallels between our own "post-Covid" world and this one from a century ago. Her mother is convinced that contagion is everywhere because of how it has devastated her spouse's ability to care for himself. (Sound familiar?) Pearl enjoys the movies while "masked up" along with virtually everyone else. (Although she removes it to take a swig of her father's medicine for herself while watching the follies on the silver screen.) Leaving for home, she crosses paths with the projectionist (David Corenswet)--a self-described bohemian--who shamelessly flirts with her despite knowing that she is married. He offers her a cigarette, and reassures her that he "doesn't have the bug". He entices her to come back and see him later, telling her that she's pretty enough to be in movies. It is really his role in the world of movies which attracts Pearl to him despite herself, I believe, more than sexual frustration. En route home, she loses a frame of the movie she adored in a corn field, and comes across a scarecrow. Her arousal surfaces, and she straddles the strawman while fantasizing about the projectionist. And after an apocalyptic fight with her mother one night, where tensions boil over and lead to tragedy, Pearl returns to the projectionist in the pouring rain, embraces and kisses him, and they sleep together. Afterward, he shows her a stag film (actually reputedly the earliest known stag film, called A Free Ride)--which is about the only sexually explicit content in Pearl, as opposed to the abundance of it in X. Insistent that she get home so that she can be ready for a dance audition--which she has everything riding on by this point--he drives her home. Interestingly, she chooses to spend her time making out with the projectionist instead of practicing. So in addition to the question as to exactly when Pearl went "crazy", there is also the question about when her sexuality became tied into it. Was it always there? Is the implication of this film and its predecessor that--like it is said about the majority of poetry--that sex and death are inexorably intertwined? Compared to its predecessor, Pearl is almost puritanical with its depiction of sexuality, and I believe that this is kind of the point. Pearl represents someone for whom repression is a way of life. Her mother, like Piper Laurie in Carrie to an extent, all but denies her any kind of indulgence; she even calls Pearl "selfish" for dancing in her own room in one of her dresses. This movie makes numerous cinematic references to the earlier film, predominantly concerning shots of places in and around the farm, suggesting that these kinds of resultant tragedies repeat themselves. Lingering shots on the screen door of the farmhouse, for instance, are meant to carry a double meaning: here is where Pearl will die many years from now, but here is also the gateway to where so much pain has been trapped for her. These walls hold much sorrow.
There is a sour mix of tragedy and black comedy in Pearl. She sees herself as wholesome, determined, and driven to find her way through moxie and a can-do attitude. She convinces herself that what she does is right, and suffers terribly owing to her poor judgment. In this, she shares much in common with the protagonists of several films by Lars von Trier--most especially Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark from his "Golden Heart" trilogy--all about women ground down by a world that operates on a totally different wavelength than they do. Her look and apparent innocent, down-home appeal is a clear nod to Dorothy of The Wizard of Oz; but anyone familiar with the tragedy of Judy Garland--who Pearl's design is likely inspired by--knows how this is exemplified in her. Pearl molds herself around her dream of stardom, and yet it isn't something that she's really suited for. Regardless of whether or not she is a victim of her overbearing mother, she is a narcissist who loses the ability to distinguish dream from reality, right from wrong. In this, she reminds me of Ken Ogata's Iwao Enokizu from Shōhei Imamura's Vengeance is Mine, also also about a charismatic yet narcissistic serial killer. Both see themselves as the heroes of their own fantasies, as people who are ostracized or victimized by a cruel and unfeeling world. But in truth, they are self-absorbed and convinced that they are entitled to the greatness the world owes them in their eyes. The most telling example of this is when Pearl comes to the church for the dance audition, alongside her sister-in-law, Mitzy (Emma Jenkins-Purro). Mitzy and Howard come from an affluent family that has tried to be charitable to Ruth, who is too proud to accept their generosity. Mitzy seems truly warm toward Pearl and tries to foster a friendship with the farm girl, despite their differences in lifestyle. But Mitzy is nervous at performing, especially after watching girl after girl flee the church in tears after not getting the part, so asks Pearl to go ahead of her. When Pearl takes the stage, the movie gives way to a vivid song and dance number with patriotic fireworks and dancers in army uniform appearing behind her. Her impassioned performance would be considered exemplary by any standard; and yet...she doesn't get the part. The judge tells her that she lacks that "X factor", bluntly clarifying that they want someone "younger" and "blonder" instead...like Mitzy. So that whole routine we saw was all really just in Pearl's head; it's anyone's guess how she actually performed, but it stands to reason that she really isn't much of a dancer anyway. But that's not the reality she wants, so she collapses in tears and screaming, bawling her eyes out after everyone has gone, except Mitzy who takes her home. This is followed by a lengthy confession by Pearl in her farmhouse, during which Mitzy does her best to restrain her shock at her sister-in-law confessing to a triple homicide and several other acts of cruelty and sin. Pearl is heartbroken, ironically, because she realizes that she has no "heart". She is driven by dark impulses, and regrets that this is her reality. She's discovered who she really is...she just doesn't like the answer. Like Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, she is confronted with the hollow revelation that even the knowledge that she is "not right" does nothing to salve her inner torment. That her world is one of darkness, and there is no greater understanding that comes with this awareness, no true regret for her atrocities. There is no "Pearl"...just an "idea" of Pearl in her mind. She has become an actor of sorts, like she always intended...but the role she is condemned to perform is of herself, until someone just like her comes along many years later to put her out of her misery.
Recommended for: Fans of a psychological horror set a hundred years ago, when hysteria for fame and global problems like war and disease were just as predominant as they are today. Pearl uses the framework of a melodrama to lure us into sympathy for our murderous heroine, but even having pity might be a stretch given the cruelty which is at the core of Pearl--an evil with a strained, painful smile.