Pearl (2022 film)

In 1918, Pearl is a young woman living with her German immigrant parents on their farm in Texas, while her husband, Howard, serves in World War I. Her father is infirm and paralyzed, and her strict mother, Ruth, insists that she help care for both him and the farm as they isolate themselves to protect against the Spanish flu pandemic. Pearl aspires to be a chorus girl or a film star, which Ruth disapproves of, and chafes under the isolation. Pearl also shows signs of repressed rage and violence. She abuses her father in secret and kills animals, which she feeds to an alligator she has nicknamed Theda. One day while visiting town, Pearl meets a projectionist who takes a liking to her. After returning to the farm, Pearl dances with a scarecrow in a cornfield and has sex with it. During supper, Ruth berates Pearl and withholds her food, as Pearl claimed to have bought sweets on the way home to explain the missing 8 cents she spent on her ticket to the pictures. Pearl hears from Mitsy, her wealthy sister-in-law, of an audition to find new dancers for a troupe around the state, and envisions it as her ticket out of spending her life living on the farm and having to care for her father. She later visits the projectionist, who shows her the illicit stag film A Free Ride and encourages her to pursue her dreams. Pearl comments that she cannot abandon her family and she says, "If only they would just die." That night, Ruth and Pearl get into an argument over dinner as she reveals that she knows about Pearl visiting the movies. Pearl confesses she wants to audition and asks for Ruth's permission, to which she declares Pearl as her biggest failure. An altercation erupts during which Pearl shoves her mother against the hearth, causing her dress to catch fire. As she burns, Pearl pours boiling water onto her to douse the flames and then drags her into the basement while leaving her father alone in the room. She then flees to the theater, where she sleeps with the projectionist. The following morning, the projectionist drives Pearl home to prepare for the audition. However, he is disturbed by her sudden agitated behavior, as well as the sight of a rotting pig that her mother-in-law left for Ruth several days before. As he tries to leave, Pearl erupts into a fit of rage at the perceived abandonment and stabs him to death with a pitchfork. She pushes his car into a pond, where Theda eats his remains. Pearl dresses herself in one of Ruth's Belle Époque gowns and dresses up her father before smothering him to death using a pillow cover. Pearl arrives at the church to attend the audition. She thinks her dance performance will impress the talent scouts, but is rejected for not being young, blonde, or "all-American". Mitsy accompanies her home in an attempt to console her, which results in Pearl launching into a lengthy confession regarding many things, from resentment toward her husband and having an affair to killing animals, her parents and the projectionist. Pearl then coerces a stunned Mitsy into confessing that she won the audition. As Mitsy tries to leave, Pearl chases her down the driveway and kills her with an axe. Pearl dismembers Mitsy's body and feeds the remains to Theda, then goes into the basement and lies next to Ruth's corpse. She decides to atone for her crimes by creating a home for Howard. Some time later, Howard returns and is greeted with the long-decomposed bodies of Pearl's parents seated at the dining table around the rotting feast. As Howard stares in horror, Pearl greets him with a protracted, pained smile, saying, "I'm so happy you're home." ==Cast==

• Mia Goth as Pearl • David Corenswet as the projectionist • Tandi Wright as Ruth, Pearl's mother • Matthew Sunderland as Pearl's father • Emma Jenkins-Purro as Mitsy, Howard's sister • Amelia Reid-Meredith as Margaret, Howard and Mitsy's mother • Alistair Sewell as Howard, Pearl's husband ==Production==

Development Ti West began writing a script for the prequel film during production on X. He stated that the prequel project had developed from a story he had collaborated on with Mia Goth, and that he had seen it either as becoming a potential film, or simply serving as a backstory for Goth's role as Pearl in the first movie. Casting Mia Goth reprises her role as a younger version of Pearl, the elderly woman from the first film. Filming Principal photography was revealed to have begun in secret immediately following the completed photography on X. Filming started in New Zealand, took place back-to-back with the first movie and used the same sets that were built for X. West worked with the production crew of Avatar: The Way of Water (2022), who were taking a break from production on that film at the time. West stated that, despite the production taking place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the production crew had already completed their required period of self-isolation, and were therefore able to work safely and efficiently together during the pandemic. He said: "I came out of quarantine and I was like, 'We're already building all of this stuff, it's COVID and we're on the one place on Earth where it's safe to make a movie.'" Post-production In March 2022, having completed filming, West announced that he was currently working on editing the movie, that he would go to Nashville, Tennessee, following the March 2022 SXSW Film Festival, to record the orchestral score for the soundtrack with Tyler Bates and Timothy Williams, and that the film was expected to be finished in May. == Music ==

The film score was released through A24 Music on September 23, 2022. Bates and Williams shared a liking of film scores from the classical Hollywood cinema mostly from Bernard Herrmann, John Barry, Henry Mancini, Ennio Morricone and Maurice Jarre. In contrast to X, the duo wanted to produce a stylistically classical approach from that period, so that people could conceive it as a classic film over a slasher-horror film. Pearl features the original, Arthur Fields' version of the song as diegetic music when Pearl goes to see Palace Follies. Pearl also makes a reference to the song when she exclaims ", poor Johnny!" after pushing the projectionist's car into the pond. ==Release==

Pearl had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 3, 2022, and was released in theaters in the United States on September 16, 2022. Home media The film was released on VOD on October 25, 2022, and was released on Blu-ray and DVD on November 15, 2022. ==Reception==

Box office In the United States and Canada, Pearl was released alongside The Woman King and See How They Run, and was projected to gross around $4 million from 2,900 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $1.3 million on its first day and went on to debut to $3.1 million, finishing third at the box office. It made $1.92 million in its second weekend, finishing fifth at the box office. Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 92% based on 211 reviews, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The site's consensus states: "Pearl finds Ti West squeezing fresh gore out of the world he created with X – and once again benefiting from a brilliant Mia Goth performance." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 76 out of 100 based on reviews from 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B–" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave the film a 75% overall positive score, with 54% saying they would definitely recommend it. In his review for The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney described it as a "cleverly packaged pandemic production with narrative echoes of that global anxiety", praising the screenplay, cinematography, score, and Goth's performance—which he compared to Shelley Duvall in The Shining (1980). In a year-end retrospective for Daily Grindhouse, Preston Fassel named the film as the best horror movie of 2022 as well as "the best film of the year, period, and a bona fide cinematic classic that deserves Criterion status ASAP." Derek Smith of Slant Magazine thought that, while The Wizard of Oz references were "purposeful", they lacked "follow through", creating an impression that the film is more focused on showcasing its "cleverness" rather than enhancing its narrative or character depth. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese was reportedly impressed by the film, calling it "mesmerizing" and stating that it was "powered by a pure, undiluted love for cinema". The New York Times named the character of Pearl one of the 93 most stylish people of 2022, highlighting her "blood red dress, lacy blue bow, smudged makeup, boots … and ax". Goth's performance as the titular character was cited by Entertainment Weekly as one of the best of the year. The Independent described the character as a cultural horror icon, while the phrase "I'm a star" became a well-known Internet meme among Gen-Z youth. Accolades ==Follow-up==

West announced in March 2022 that he was working on the script for a third movie in the film series, to be set chronologically after the events of X and intended to explore another subgenre of horror and continue depicting how cinema in general, and the development of home video releases in particular, have influenced society. West stated that, while a viewer can watch each movie independently without having seen the previous film, they are made to "complement each other". It was released on July 5, 2024. == See also ==