Pearl (An X-traordinary Origin Story) is an American movie in the psychological horror genre. Ti West was responsible for both the direction and the script (with Mia Goth), while Mia Goth received her first screenwriting and producing credit. She also appears in it, which is a precursor to the earlier-released movie X. I’ve never seen something like this happen so rapidly.
I wish that occurs more frequently, particularly in horror. On September 3, 2022, Pearl made its international debut at the 79th Venice International Film Festival. On September 16, 2022, A24 released Pearl in theatres nationwide.
This movie chronicles Pearl’s transformation into the ruthless murderer that we all see in X. She plays a teenage farm worker in this movie who has a sick father and an abusive mother. Her spouse was away in World War One when the movie was set in 1918. She is only interested in one thing in life—dancing in movies—but she gradually realizes that she is different from everyone else in her environment. Although Pearl has a seriously flawed perspective, she continues to believe that she is special even after the scouts reject her.
Pearl sees Ti West squeezing new gore out of the universe he built with X, and once again benefits from a fantastic Mia Goth performance, according to the site’s consensus.
Cast and Characters of Pearl
- Mia Goth as the lead character Pearl
English actress Mia Gypsy Mello da Silva Goth was born in 1993. She started modeling when she was young, and her feature film debut came in Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac in 2013. The Survivalist of 2015, which is a thriller movie, and A Cure for Wellness of 2016, a psychological horror movie, both starred her. Later, she had an appearance in the historical romance comedy Emma of 2020, and in 2022, she starred in the horror movies X and Pearl.
Pearl is a young girl who can go to any limits in order to achieve her dreams, even if it’s not normal according to others.
- David Corenswet portrays The Projectionist
American actor David Packard Corenswet was born on July 8, 1993. He started appearing in television programs as a guest star after earning his degree from the Juilliard School in 2016. In 2018, he appeared in House of Cards. After that, he appeared in the Ryan Murphy-produced Netflix series The Politician from 2019 to 2020 and the Hollywood movie of 2020, as well as the film Look Both Ways of 2022, the HBO miniseries We Own This City of 2022.
The projectionist fell for Pearl and wanted to help her achieve her goal of entering the entertainment industry.
- Tandi Wright as Pearl’s Mother, Ruth
Actress Tandi Wright was born in New Zealand on May 13, 1970. Her role as Nurse Caroline Buxton on the venerable New Zealand soap series Shortland Street is where she initially rose to prominence. She was most recognized for her roles in Nothing Trivial in 2011-… and in Seven Periods with Mr. Gormsby in 2005. In the television series 800 Words, she portrayed Laura Turner on a regular basis.
Ruth is Pearl’s Mother, but she acts like a dictator and claims that she takes care of her husband and daughter. She goes against the wish of her daughter to become an actress and dancer, which leads to some serious consequences.
- Matthew Sunderland as Pearl’s Father
An Actor, writer, and director Matthew Sunderland was born in New Zealand somewhere about 1972. In the drama Out of the Blue, which is based on the Aramoana Massacre, he played the title character, David Gray, which was his best performance. He received the Best Actor Award for this performance at the New Zealand Screen Awards in 2008.
Pearl’s Father is a disabled person who needs care from his family as he is unable to do a single thing on his own. Being paralyzed, he is always in a wheelchair thus, both his wife and daughter are not much fond of him and see him as a burden.
Pearl Plot
The plot, which takes place in 1918, centers on a young woman named Pearl who resides with her parents (a domineering mother and an infirm and paralyzed father). Additionally, she had a spouse serving in the First World War who is currently absent. She wants to have some thrilling encounters in her currently dull existence, which is why she desires to be in the Entertainment industry as a dancer and actor.
In the cinema, she met a projectionist, and they both fell in love. She also fantasized about him while masturbating in the fields. She slips out of her house one day to meet him. He urged her to follow her dreams, and Pearl told him that she wished her parents were dead.
Pearl’s mother saw the audition flyer that Misty (Pearl’s sister-in-law) had given Pearl, and they got into a fight over it at the dinner table. All of this caused Pearl to push her mother, which caused Ruth to catch fire and get life-threatening burns. She pulled her somewhat living corpse down to the cellar. Her father was left at home alone after witnessing all that had happened. She ran away to meet the projectionist in the pouring rain, and they also had sex that night.
Further details about the plot
The projectionist became aware of her actions and her theatrical demeanor in the morning. He attempted to leave, and Pearl stabbed him to death as a result of her fury. She offered his leftovers to an alligator she called Theda after drowning his car in a pond. She did the same thing with her paralyzed father, pushing him into the pond to feed Theda.
Then she arrived at the audition location and was rejected by the scouts, even though she was confident in her dance skills. They were in search of a blonde, young American girl. Misty tried to console her, but Pearl told her everything she had been feeling and about her crimes. Misty was shocked and tried to run away by assuring Pearl that she would not tell anyone. However, as soon as Pearl learned that Misty had been chosen in the auditions while she had been passed over, she chased her down and killed her with the help of an axe. Again, Pearl fed her to Theda by dismembering her body.
After all, she had done, she acknowledged her mother’s words and decided to welcome Howard (Pearl’s husband) to a warm home. The next day, when Howard returned home, he was horrified to find his in-laws’ bodies sitting on the dining room table decaying away. Pearl had a peculiar look on her face that mingled joy and pain.
Pearl Movie Review
The movie X was absolutely loved by the fans, and the viewers found it to be extremely enjoyable. It had an old-school slasher film vibe about it. It was superbly produced, brilliantly played, and sufficiently original thanks to Ti West’s touch. The uniqueness of X prevented it from seeming like simply another slasher remake of an 80s nostalgia trip.
However, if we talk about its prequel, which was released recently, then we’ve never seen a movie just like Pearl. Which made us appreciate it even more since it seemed so authentic. It feels like a level-up version of Wizard of Oz, but both the movies can’t be compared as they have their respective themes and uniqueness.
The movie’s characters are really nicely developed. Mia Goth did a great job of highlighting the main character’s villainous nature. Pearl expresses so many feelings after committing crimes; she despises herself, feels terrible about what she did, and revels in the enormous pleasure she felt while doing it.
At the conclusion of the film, Pearl delivered a five-minute monologue in which she expressed all the human feelings she was experiencing at the time. The movie makes it clear that Pearl is just who she is and that nothing really motivates her to alter.
Writer’s Opinion
If I were to give this film a score out of 10, it would be 9.5 since it has everything we look for in a slasher film. Despite the fact that the film doesn’t really go anywhere, it seemed very realistic and conveyed its aspects in a fantastic way. Even with daytime gore and horror sequences, Pearl managed to frighten the audience. The main character plainly understands what she is doing but cannot explain why she is doing it.
As a result, her worry, wrath, and fear of abandonment felt more genuine. It really served as the prequel to X as it was more of a slasher than Pearl and thus didn’t really focus on the main character with specifics. And this was taken care of in Pearl.
The shots in Pearl are slightly different from X in terms of lighting, and it uses technicolor like in a storybook, having bright colors used for nature. “Pearl’s” execution is shakier in terms of what it wants us to take away from her illusions, violent outbursts, and desire for love.
“Pearl” comes dangerously near to allowing you to simply laugh at her. Now that we have seen the two films of 2022 portraying the horror and gore elements so perfectly, I can’t really wait for the upcoming third film in the X series.
