Pearl (2022)
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A woman's desperate ambition to become a movie star leads to a violent spiral on her family's farm.
The story
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. Ruth disapproves of Pearl's aspiration to be a chorus girl or a film star. Pearl shows signs of repressed rage and violence, chafing at living in isolation. She abuses her father in secret and kills animals, which she feeds to an alligator she nicknamed Theda.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1918, Pearl lives on a Texas farm with her infirm father and strict mother, Ruth, while her husband Howard is away at war. Amidst a Spanish flu pandemic, Pearl's desire to become a movie star clashes with her mother's restrictions. After a physical altercation with Ruth, Pearl flees to a local theater and encounters a projectionist. After a series of escalating incidents, she kills the projectionist and her parents. She then attends an audition where she is rejected for not being 'all-American'. Following a confrontation with her sister-in-law Mitsy, Pearl kills her as well. The film concludes with Howard returning home to find the decomposed bodies of Pearl's parents at the dinner table, where Pearl greets him with a pained smile.
- First release year
- 2022
- Runtime (minutes)
- 102
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Ti West
- Writers
- Ti West · writer; Mia Goth · writer
- Cast and characters
- Mia Goth · Pearl; David Corenswet · the projectionist; Tandi Wright · Ruth, Pearl's mother; Matthew Sunderland · Pearl's father; Emma Jenkins-Purro · Mitsy, Howard's sister; Alistair Sewell · Howard, Pearl's husband
- Genres
- psychological slasher; horror
- Themes
- ambition; isolation; repression
- Tone and mood
- melodramatic; tense
- Setting
- A farm in Texas in 1918.
- Premise and plot tags
- origin story; prequel
- Content notes
- violence; animal cruelty
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise going to Mia Goth's performance.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 92% · scale: percentage · review count: 211; Rotten Tomatoes · score: 7.8 · scale: 10; Metacritic · score: 76 · scale: 100 · review count: 39; CinemaScore · score: B– · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 75% · scale: percentage
- Production trivia
- The production crew included members from the Avatar: The Way of Water team.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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