Trapped on an isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the watch of her mother. Lusting for the glamorous life she’s seen in movies, Pearl’s temptations and repressions collide. A film by Ti West, starring Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, and Emma Jenkins-Purro.
Pearl
An X-traordinary Origin Story
Ti West
(2022)
This film serves as a prequel to “X”, telling the story of Pearl in 1918 during the Spanish Flu pandemic.
The Spanish flu pandemic of 1918-1920 was an exceptionally deadly global influenza outbreak caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. It infected an estimated 500 million people worldwide, about one-third of the planet’s population at the time, and killed between 17 million and 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in history.
Pearl (Mia Goth) is a young woman living with her German immigrant parents on their Texas farmhouse, while her husband, Howard (Alistair Sewell), serves in the First World War. Her routine work includes helping on the farm and taking care of her paralyzed father (Matthew Sunderland). Pearl is somewhat mentally ill and shows signs of psychopathy. She often kills farm animals when no one is looking and physically abuses her father when alone with him.
The First World War, also known as World War I, was a global conflict fought from 1914 to 1918 between the Allies (primarily France, Russia, Britain, Italy, and the United States) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey). It was characterized by trench warfare, the use of artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons, and resulted in an estimated 9 million military deaths and 23 million wounded.
Pearl is captivated by the movies and believes strongly that she could be a star. She dreams of acting in popular films or traveling the world as a chorus girl, performing dazzling dance routines. However, her domineering mother, Ruth (Tandi Wright), crushes this dream with her controlling rules. When Ruth needs to pick up medicine for Pearl’s father, Pearl jumps at the chance. Sneaking into the theater to watch Palace Follies, she lets her imagination run wild, becoming one of the chorus girls on screen.
There, she meets a young projectionist (David Corenswet) while reading a theatrical pamphlet in the back alley of the theater. He shows interest in Pearl, offering her a cigarette and inviting her to watch another free movie inside. Pearl declines, insisting she must get home before her mother waits. The young projectionist tells her to wait while he retrieves something and returns with a piece of film from Palace Follies. He clips a single frame from the film and gives it to Pearl as a gift. He then tells her that she’s welcome to knock on his door next time she’s in town, and he can show her any movies she likes.
Pearl learns of an audition from her rich and beautiful sister-in-law, Misty (Emma Jenkins-Purro), to find new dancers for a traveling Christmas troupe that tours the state. The audition will be held at the town church this coming Saturday. Pearl sees this as a golden opportunity, a chance sent from heaven to escape her mundane life on the farm and become the shining star she’s always dreamed of being. However, her dreams are soon shattered as things don’t go according to plan.
Directed by American filmmaker Ti West from a screenplay he co-wrote with Mia Goth, Pearl is a captivating thriller exploring the origins of a psychotic killer. The film boasts a unique style, perhaps with technically impressive camerawork, and features memorable killing scenes. Mia Goth delivers a stellar performance. While the screenplay may not fully explain her character’s motivations, Goth’s acting and the creativity of the film’s violence are so brilliant that they make us overlook most of the narrative’s flaws.
I particularly love the scene where Pearl has a heated argument with her mother Ruth, which escalates into violence and triggers the horrifying transformation that makes her a true murderer.
Pearl premiered at Biennale di Venezia on 3 September 2022. It was theatrically released in the United States on 16 September, by A24. The film grossed over $10 million worldwide ($3 million domestically in the United States) against a production budget of $8 million, which is significantly higher than the previous film X‘s budget.
