Our take
It’s rare to see a prequel surpass its antecedent, but Pearl is that exception. You can watch it before or after X and still get the same satisfaction from piecing together the puzzle of Mia Goth’s many roles (three in total across the trilogy). If the first film owed a lot to slasher classics like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the second (surprise!) channels The Wizard of Oz and nods to the splendiferous melodramas of Douglas Sirk. The jarring form-content opposition here makes sense, as we’re seeing through the eyes of the main character, who most of all dreams of being in a movie. Because of that very same whimsy, everything has to change: the violence is not as explicit and the role of sex is brought to the forefront. All hail the new kind of final girl: a farm girl-turned-star.
Streaming arrival
The story
Trapped on her family’s isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the bitter and overbearing watch of her devout mother. Lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies, Pearl’s ambitions, temptations, and repressions collide.
Elsewhere
"One to chalk up to that small but delightful sub-genre of retro slasher weepies."
— David Jenkins
"“Pearl” does hold up on its own, a fun-house-mirror “Imitation of Life” full of insider winks to horror classics..."
— Peter Debruge
In 1918, Pearl (Mia Goth), a starry-eyed girl living at a secluded farm, dreams of becoming a star and no one will stand in her way.
Mia Goth's intervention as both lead actress and co-writer shapes and sharpens Pearl, making out of it a mutli-layered exploration of womanhood in relation to exposure and performance. This is why Goth's own performance here stands out the most: she imbues the character with her own star persona qualities. Known for playing quirky, loud women (think A Cure for Wellness or Infinity Pool), the British actress here owns the screen, superbly so. Her Pearl is devoted to the point of mania, also libidinal and cunning. By planting her character development in an obsessive love for "the pictures" (or early cinema reels of the Tiller Girls), Goth finds a smart way to mock stardom as a concept while also securing her own star status in a superb role like this.
My god, Mia Goth!
The details
Who picked it
Savina Petkova, PhD, is a Bulgarian film critic and curator based in London whose work has appeared in Sight and Sound, Variety, Little White Lies, Cineuropa, and MUBI Notebook. She is the Programming Lead for Cambridge Film Festival and a senior editor at Talking Shorts, with a focus on contemporary European cinema.
this movie is a 10/10 i love it sm ive seen it at least 30 times its so good