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Set in 1918, in the midst of World War I and the Spanish flu, Pearl lives on an isolated farm with her emotionally distant mother and disabled father. Her husband is off fighting in the war, leaving Pearl entirely isolated, with nothing but farm chores and her fantasies. She has wanted to be a dancer for years to escape her farm life and feel complete in the spotlight. Over the course of the film, she slowly descends into madness when things don’t go the way she wants.
While the gore and weapons are scary, the real horror lies in Mia Goth’s incredible performance. Goth shows Pearl’s slow descent into madness through every scene as her voice switches from childlike joy to deep resentment to enormous mental breakdowns with perfection. During Pearl’s intense breakdowns, Goth’s entire face turns red as she screams at the top of her lungs. In almost every scene, it looks as if Pearl is holding back the tears and emotions from coming to the surface. Her acting feels so realistic that by the end of the film, I was disturbed by how raw her emotions were.
Ethan Hayden, senior in environmental science and member of the Wildcat Film Appreciation Society, joked about Goth’s compelling acting.
“Mia Goth is going to be under my bed tonight, she’s so terrifying,” he said.
The film’s visuals are also one of its most striking aspects. The coloring and lighting are reminiscent of Hollywood’s early Technicolor era, with its lush, hyper-saturated colors from the 1930s and 1940s. The director, Ti West, uses vivid reds and golden sunlight to create a beautiful vintage aesthetic. The world looks bright and colorful, even during Pearl’s most psychopathic moments, making the film appear innocent and magical, despite its darker themes.
What makes “Pearl” so unsettling is how it encourages the audience to find sympathy for Pearl. Most slasher films portray the villain as a faceless, emotionless monster who threatens the protagonist, and typically, we don’t see their background or humanity.
Instead, Pearl is the troubled protagonist. We observe all aspects of her life, from the simple joys she experiences while performing for the farm animals and watching movies to the darker moments, such as her fear of insignificance and her longing for freedom from her current situation. Her violence is horrific, but we see it stem from very human emotions: loneliness, envy and aching to be something more than who you already are.
Overall, “Pearl” was an unforgettable experience. Though it exists in a film trilogy between “X” and “MaXXXine,” it stands on its own as a complete and haunting work. The combination of slasher and psychological horror makes it a disturbing and personal piece of art. Mia Goth’s performance creates an incredible, tragic character, and the film stays with its audience long after watching because of its unique story. Pearl is one of the strongest modern horror films, making it deserving of all 5 stars.
