Rating: R | Runtime: 103 minutes
Release Date: September 16th, 2022 (USA)
Studio: A24
Director(s): Ti West
Writer(s): Ti West & Mia Goth

It’s about making the best of what I have.

From The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to Technicolor Douglas Sirk, writer/director Ti West looks to be roaming through the annals of cinematic history for what has quickly become a franchise for he and star/co-writer Mia Goth. While the comparison worked a little better on X (it and Chain Saw both take place during the 70s), Pearl goes “demented Disney” as a sole result of its commentary (it takes place in 1918 while Sirk started in the 30s).

Both films are about dreamers pushing too hard against the confined nature of their origins. Maxine (Goth) saw the indie porno scene as an escape from evangelical purity. Pearl (Goth) saw Hollywood’s golden age of song and dance as an escape from rural poverty.

There’s more to it than that, of course. WWI is in full swing so you have anti-German sentiment, the Spanish flu, and little room for upward mobility beyond a hope and a prayer. Pearl wished her husband Howard would sweep her off her feet into a life of luxury (his family comes from money), but he fell in love with her German immigrant parents’ (Tandi Wright’s Ruth and Matthew Sunderland’s Father) farm as much as her. This was his escape. So too was the war. And all the while Pearl was left to languish, feeding her rage with the corpses of animals before inevitably graduating to human flesh.

That’s the film. Allusions to Carrie pit daughter against mother on a collision course that does nobody any favors once Pearl’s grasp on reality loosens for good. Other characters (David Corenswet’s projectionist and Emma Jenkins-Purro’s Mitsy) pop-up to be what Pearl needs in the moment—both as friends and victims depending on how much of herself she reveals to them.

I’d argue none of that really differentiates it from its predecessor considering West is intentionally drawing parallels by making Maxine and Pearl identical in mannerisms and desires. Yes, it shows how little has changed for women seeking autonomy despite sixty years passing, but it never truly delves deeper than motive. Goth is great (that monologue) and the style homages are fun, but that’s about it for me.

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(L – R) Mia Goth and Tandi Wright in PEARL. Credit: Christopher Moss. Courtesy of A24.