Pearl (X)

Pearl is a fictional character from the X film series, played by Mia Goth. Pearl first appears as the antagonist in X (2022) and returns as the villainous protagonist and title character in its prequel, Pearl (2022). In X, Goth was cast as both Pearl and the final girl, Maxine, which Goth admitted she was unaware of initially. Director Ti West explained that this was to display the similarities between the two characters. Goth commented that she felt "a lot of sympathy" for Pearl in X and noted she preferred to think of Pearl as neither a villain nor a victim.

Believing the character would be the "stand-out" of X, Goth and West wrote a prequel to the film, set during World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic, which was filmed immediately after X and had Goth reprising the role of Pearl. The prequel, named after the character, was set to focus on how Pearl's backstory led to her becoming a killer without making attempts to humanize her behavior. Goth characterized the younger Pearl as "a dreamer" and "an emotional person who wears her heart on her sleeve and is quite sensitive". Both Pearl's character and Goth's performances in both films received strong critical acclaim.

Appearances
The character known as Pearl made her initial appearance in X. In the film, which is set in 1979 Texas, Pearl and her husband, Howard (Stephen Ure), are an elderly couple living on a farm. Due to his age and heart condition, Howard is unable to have sex despite Pearl's attempts to seduce him. When a group of young filmmakers begin shooting a pornographic film, Pearl grows envious of their youth, motivating her to kill the film's director RJ (Owen Campbell), crew member Wayne (Martin Henderson), and actress Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow) and become infatuated with the other actress, Maxine (Goth). Pearl and Howard later reunite and enter the guesthouse where Pearl is finally able to convince him to have sex with her. Once done, Howard shoots crew member Lorraine (Jenna Ortega) after catching her trying to escape. As they move her body, Howard has a heart attack before Maxine appears and threatens to shoot Pearl with an unloaded pistol. Pearl tries shooting Maxine with Howard's gun, but the recoil knocks her back onto the porch, breaking her hip. This allows Maxine the time to enter Howard's truck, reverse it to crush Pearl's head and escape.

The character returned in the prequel, Pearl. Set in 1918, the film showcases Pearl in her 20s. Pearl lives on her family's homestead with her paralyzed father (Matthew Sunderland) and stern German mother, Ruth (Tandi Wright), while her husband Howard (Alistair Sewell) serves in the First World War. Pearl shows signs of psychopathy as she kills farm animals and physically abuses her father. After watching a movie, Pearl meets a handsome projectionist (David Corenswet) whom she later imagines a scarecrow to look like before she masturbates with it on the way home. Pearl's sister-in-law, Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro), tells her about an audition to find dancers for a traveling troupe, which Pearl sees as her opportunity to escape her life. However, when Ruth finds a theater program Pearl hid, the two argue, resulting in Pearl accidentally igniting Ruth's dress and inflicting life-threatening burns when Pearl uses boiling water to douse the flames. Pearl drags Ruth to the basement before fleeing to the movie theater, where she has sex with the projectionist. The next day, he drives Pearl home, but when he attempts to leave, Pearl erupts into a fit of rage and stabs him to death with a pitchfork. She disposes of his body before smothering her father and leaving to attend the audition, where she is rejected, causing her to desperately plead that she is a star. Back home, Pearl goes into a lengthy confession to Mitsy regarding her resentment toward her husband, having an affair, her psychopathic tendencies, killing animals, her parents and the projectionist. She also reveals she was pregnant with his child, which disgusted her due to her lack of maternal instincts, but she found great satisfaction in miscarrying. Pearl then intimidates a stunned Mitsy into confessing that she won the audition before killing her with an axe, declaring she'll just learn to be happy with what she's got. When Howard returns from the war, Pearl greets him with a pained smile.

In the third film, MaXXXine, set in 1985, Pearl appears through flashback sequences and during sequences where Maxine briefly envisions the character. In this film, her surname is also revealed to be Douglas by the private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon).

Development
In X, Mia Goth was cast as both the elderly antagonist, Pearl, and final girl, Maxine Minx, making her the only actress in the film given a dual role. Director Ti West explained that this was to display the similarities between the two characters. As a theme in X was the juxtaposition between age and sexual liberation, Pearl was intended to act as a prediction of Maxine's future. Goth initially didn't know that she was being considered to play both Pearl and Maxine, explaining that she was both shocked and interested upon learning the news. West admitted that he intended from the beginning for the two characters to share an actress, as he "always thought of them as different characters but the same person". He also believed that the dual casting would help the movie stand out among other slashers. Goth detailed that she and West spoke "at length" for months about Pearl's connection to Maxine, as, in her words: "they carry the same essence and they're just at different life stages [...] but their spirit is the same". The actress added that she and West were particularly interested in the desires and fears of the characters.

It took over eight hours to fully apply the prosthetic makeup for Pearl. Goth enjoyed filming scenes in which she appears as both Maxine and Pearl, noting that it "felt like a play" and, in her words, "because you're not working off a different actor you can kind of really go inward" and "you can be in your own head and create whatever it is you want". Goth said reading the script multiple times gave her many interpretations of Pearl's character, noting that it helped her envision her humanity and complexity and helped her generate many ideas for it. Goth proclaimed she felt "a lot of sympathy" for Pearl, which she found important as it resulted in Pearl not being presented as a trope or a monster, commenting that it helped the role become more interesting. Goth added that she never envisioned Pearl as a villain or a victim, preferring to think Pearl "saw something in Maxine" that sparked her long-suppressed murderous instinct. The actress initially struggled juggling playing two characters and giving each of them an equal amount of thought.

Before filming for X concluded, Goth and West began writing a prequel, Pearl, to focus on Pearl, as they believed that the character would be "the stand-out" of X. West convinced the studio, A24, to allow the films to be filmed back-to-back. West and Goth often discussed Pearl's possible backstory during and after the production of X, leading to the idea to create a prequel. As well as helping to write the film, which was the first time she had written for one, Goth was set to reprise her role as Pearl. The prequel was written to focus on Pearl as a young woman during World War I and how her backstory led to her becoming a killer, without making attempts to humanize her behavior. Goth commented that Pearl being filmed so shortly after X helped her envision a younger version of her character as she was familiar with the crew and set, adding that she was easily able to remember X and "use that to inform young Pearl and what I wanted to do with her". The setting being the same location, but revamped, helped Goth inspire her performance, as the actress explained: "stepping onto [the setting] for the first time after they had redressed everything just made [her] feel very confident, as though all [her] ideas and what [she] was doing with Pearl was going to fit perfectly into this world. Had [she] stepped onto that set and it wasn't as enhanced and as vibrant as it had been, [she] might have felt a little insecure as to what it was that [she] wanted to do. Seeing it brought everything together nicely".

Goth considered the role of Pearl to be a "gift more than anything" and characterized her in the prequel as "a dreamer" and "an emotional person who wears her heart on her sleeve and is quite sensitive", to which she opined: "to have a character like that to sink your teeth into was so rich". While developing Pearl's beliefs and personality for the prequel, Goth found herself relating intimately to "the ways her character sees movies as a path to a better life". Goth admired how Pearl had a "complex inner landscape", noting that she wasn't sure how she approached her performance, attributing it to a strong understanding of her character. West admired Goth's ability to "create a villain character that wasn't [...] a normal villain", as well as how she brought "humanity" to Pearl, noting that the movie depended on it. Goth commented that she was "terrified" to shoot the scene where Pearl confesses to her murders and mental discomfort as it was a lengthy, one-take scene. She practiced it every night as preparation, and they shot it on the last day of filming to allow Goth to put in perspective all the "emotional turmoil" Pearl had gone through.

Reception
Goth's performance as Pearl received strong critical acclaim. Danielle Ryan of Slashfilm called Pearl a "complicated character", commenting that "Goth plays Pearl as both unhinged and relatable". Clarisse Loughrey of The Independent praised how Goth's performance made Pearl's behaviour believable, particularly describing "her commitment to every choked cry for attention", and "glassy-eyed departure from reality" as "unimpeachable". Ana Peres of MovieWeb ranked Goth's performances in X and Pearl as the "best performances in horror movies in 2022", writing that the actress "blew everyone's mind with her striking performance", further commending her for giving life to the character with her "perfect sensibility and vulnerability". Harry Guerin of RTÉ praised Goth's performance, detailing: "Goth switches gears between childlike, alluring and terrifying". Angelo Delos Trinos of CBR listed Mia Goth as one of 10 actors snubbed by the Oscars for her performance, writing: "by portraying Pearl's older and younger selves in X and Pearl, respectively, Mia Goth solidified her place as one of the best new actors working in the horror genre today". David Caballero of Collider wrote that Goth delivered "a tour-de-force portrayal of desperation, frustration and melancholy", deeming it "Oscar-worthy". In a review of Pearl, Ryan Gilbey of The New Statesman wrote that a highlight of the film was Goth's performance. Jen Yamato of Los Angeles Times wrote "Goth unleashes a monster layered with complexity, vulnerability, humanity and rage". Damon Wise of Deadline praised Goth's performance, calling it a "powerhouse" that prevented the character from becoming one-dimensional.

The character of Pearl was also positively received by critics. Clark Collins of Entertainment Weekly deemed the character of Pearl to be one of the "greatest horror roles" of 2022. Wendy Ide of The Guardian praised Pearl's character, writing that it was "filled with kittenish cruelty and the creeping rot of madness, all topped off with a monstrous, distorting need to be loved". Loughrey (The Independent) declared Pearl to be a "brand new horror icon". Alison Foreman of IndieWire ranked Pearl as the sixth-scariest female horror villain, naming Pearl's monologue as her "scariest scene" as it "ferociously picks apart Pearl's psyche". Yamato (Los Angeles Times) considered Pearl to be a "richly dynamic role", adding that the character's monologue was one "for the ages". Delos Trinos (CBR) called Pearl "an iconic tragic monster" and a "hauntingly tragic figure". Sofia Torres of The Heights named Pearl a "brilliantly complex" character, writing: "In a way, Pearl's self awareness and, sometimes, her remorse humanizes her character". Nicholas Johnson of MovieWeb called Pearl "one of the more recent additions to the canon of terrifying horror film serial killers" and "far from a one-dimensional mass murderer". He concluded by calling Pearl one of the "most compelling film characters in recent memory". A scene from Pearl where Pearl yells "I'm a star" became a popular meme on social media after its release.