October has come and gone, and it’s safe to say that I have consumed my fair share of horror films over the last week or so. I would like to say that I have developed a fairly strong stomach when it comes to horror–Midsommar and Silence of the Lambs are two of my favourite films of all time–but Ti West’s Pearl is unsettling in a different way. The Gothic has been one of my research interests from the very beginning of my academic journey; something about the macabre in literature has always been appealing to me.
The titular character is a young woman born to German immigrant parents, who must tend to their farm while her husband is overseas fighting in WWI. Pearl’s mother is controlling and repressive, and Pearl is limited by her duties of managing the farm and caring for her disabled father. The main character’s Southern drawl, modest personality and girlish appearance make her appear deceptively innocent. However, there is a disturbing disparity between her actions in public and the desires she exhibits when nobody is watching.
The film presents several contrasts to the audience throughout; public and private, repression and sexuality, tradition and progression. Pearl desires to move past her humble origins, desperate to be seen for what she believes she is: a star. She becomes fixated on “the pictures”, fascinated by the dancers she sees in her local cinema. The resident projectionist introduces Pearl to pornography, assuring her that it is soon to become legal and that she, too, could be on screen someday. In one of the more unsettling scenes of the film, Pearl goes home and simulates intercourse with a scarecrow, all the while fantasising about the projectionist. This is not the first time the protagonist is seen engaging in unusual and disturbing behaviours in private, speaking to her farm animals as if they were human and killing them when she feels they have insulted her or misbehaved. When Pearl’s controlling mother confronts her for leaving the house, Pearl murders her, showing her new, disturbingly defiant character.
It would be impossible to mention the backdrop of the influenza pandemic presents without relating it to the ongoing covid pandemic. Pearl’s mother witholds food once she discovers that she has been to town, putting her father at risk. There is a feeling of isolation present throughout; the cinema is sparsely attended, and background characters are seen walking alone with their faces covered. One particular shot, where Pearl is watching a film, alone, and slips down her mask to eat, feels so mundane, but so unnervingly relevant to today, that it honestly caught me off-guard.
The most memorable scene of the film occurs when Pearl attends an audition to join a dancing group. Her dream of moving beyond her isolated life on the farm finally feels within reach, and she obsesses over her routine in the hopes that she may become like the dancers she admires in the cinema. However, when Pearl is rejected, she suffers a breakdown, screaming at the judges that she is a star and having to be escorted away. Not only has she suffered the heartbreak of missing out on her dream of being on the screen, Pearl fears that this rejection has condemned her to waste away on the farm for the rest of her life. In a striking monologue, Pearl reveals to her sister-in-law, Mitsy, that she has always felt different from others due to her inner feelings and desires, and that she resents her husband so much for leaving her on the farm that she wishes he would die. It is the most clarity the audience sees from the protagonist, who is prone to fits of violent rage, which lead her to murder her parents and the projectionist. Mia Goth’s performance here feels honest and even sympathetic, with this monologue bringing a sense of depth to Pearl’s character. After revealing her despair, Pearl brutally murders Mitsy with an axe after becoming falsely convinced that the judges chose Mitsy over her.
The final scene, where Pearl’s husband returns home, feels like the ultimate defilement of the domestic space. He finds a feast of rotting food, with Pearl’s deceased parents seated at the table. The final image feels like a corruption of the traditional image of the nuclear family, perhaps as if to say that the old way of living has been done away with? Perhaps, in her disturbed mental state, the main character is finally attempting to perform the role of the housewife, but has become too detached from reality. Pearl comes to greet him, and the film ends on an extended close up shot of her strained, tortured smile.
I may revisit this film in my writings–it is still very fresh, so there is no doubt that there will be further discourse on the role of the domestic space, generational differences in early 20th century America and the role of sexual desire in the film. I know for sure that it’s a film I won’t be forgetting about anytime soon.