Pearl

The story goes that Pearl (a prequel to the horror film X, which came out back in March) was dreamed up by director Ti West while he was shooting that movie, and was developed during the Pandemic lockdown.  How fitting that the Spanish Flu pandemic plays a small part in this movie's storyline.  I enjoyed X greatly, but Pearl is an absolutely wonderful film, and easily the best thriller I've seen all year.

West has stated that while the earlier film was a tribute to classic slashers like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Pearl is a different kind of thriller, and draws inspiration from old technicolor melodramas and even classic Disney films.  The end result is kind of a twisted mash up of The Wizard of Oz and Psycho.  Strange as it sounds, the combo does fit.  Imagine if little Dorothy Gale had an interest in torturing small animals while dreaming about going far away from her small farm life, and you'll have a good idea.  In the previous film, Pearl and her husband, Howard, were an elderly couple in 1979 who tortured the cast and crew who were trying to film a porno movie on their farm property.  Here, the action is set in 1918, and we get to see how Pearl's madness truly began as a young woman with big dreams of stardom.  

In X, Pearl was played by British actress Mia Goth under heavy old age make up. (Goth also played Maxine, a young potential victim in that film.) Goth reprises her role here, playing Pearl as a young woman who feels trapped by a stifling home life.  One of the brilliant things West does is he shoots the film as a joyous, old fashioned technicolor film with rich, beautiful, vibrant and joyful images that goes against the inherent darkness of the film itself.  There are flights of fantasy here in the tradition of old Hollywood musicals, mixed with elements of a violent thriller.  As Pearl zips about the country on her bike or does chores on her family farm, the movie has a sunniness to it.  And yet, she is also clearly mentally unhinged, and on the verge of snapping at any minute.  

If she has been mentally unhinged for a long time (and the movie hints she has), her current life is not helping matters.  The Spanish Flu has created a pandemic in the world, and her husband Howard (Alistair Sewell) is off fighting World War I.  She has been left behind on a crumbling family farm where she is constantly under the domineering thumb of her German mother Ruth (Tandi Wright), and care for her father (Matthew Sunderland) who has been stricken catatonic by disease.  To escape her dreary life, Pearl frequently retreats into fantasies inspired by the movies she sees at her local theater, and dreams of one day dancing in films as a chorus girl.  Her dreams of escaping her current life are further aided by a kindly projectionist at the theater (David Corenswet), who entices her with dreams of going off to Europe to chase her desire to become a star.  

Pearl's other source of hope in her life is her sister-in-law, Misty (Emma Jenkins-Purro), who informs her about tryouts for a traveling dance troupe.  Pearl knows she's destined for fame and stardom, but when things don't quite work out her way, that's when the body count of the film begins to rise.  We see moments throughout the film when her madness is displayed, but eventually it becomes impossible to hide, and anyone that she sees standing in her way of her dream or "thinks she's weird" is most likely going to regret it.  Pearl is a fascinating look at the mental breakdown of its main character, and Mia Goth delivers a truly electrifying performance that is hands down the most disturbing and terrifying portrayal I've seen this year.  

The movie is also that rare thriller that does not sell itself on jump scares, but rather the slow gradual descent into madness of the main character.  Her fantasies start out innocent enough, but soon become more sinister, and the way even these darker moments are shot the same way as the initial lighter ones is compelling.  Also compelling is the screenplay credited to West and its lead star, Goth.  This is a movie that's not afraid to dive into these characters, and how they slowly start to realize that Pearl may not be all there.  It's also not afraid to give its star an electrifying and single-take monologue that goes on for six minutes straight near the end.  It's a masterful performance from Goth, and this is a masterful film in a lot of ways.

Pearl is unsettling in a way that a lot of recent horror films are not.  It gets us inside the mind of its character, and shows reality crumbling.  In that way, it kind of resembles 2019's Joker, which was also about a character's mental breakdown.  Both films work in their own way of letting us get so close to terrible people, and both have the same effect.  This is a thrilling, uncompromising, and beautiful film.

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