Horror movies can center around supernatural specters or demonic forces, but it is undoubtedly films that feature real-world antagonists that are most effective in making audiences tremble with fear. A ghost walking through your bedroom walls is one thing, but a killer human being, something that absolutely exists in the viewer’s reality (though hopefully, murder is only on the periphery of your life), is a character that carries significant emotional weight.
But it’s not enough to just be scary; a horror movie villain generally needs to inspire some kind of sympathy, however strained, from viewers in order to help audiences understand the antagonist’s actions, which ultimately makes the deaths caused by the killer all the more terrifying.
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One of the more recent additions to the canon of terrifying horror film serial killers is Pearl, who has been taking the lives of innocent folks for decades. Though her liberal use of various farm implements makes for quite a few bloody and brutal moments, she is far from a one-dimensional mass murderer. The character’s standalone prequel film, Pearl, sees her longing to leave behind her humble existence on a remote farm, while X establishes Pearl’s murderous rage as stemming from her lost youth. In X, Mia Goth plays both Pearl and the film’s protagonist, Maxine Minx, and she returns to play the villain in the prequel.
Mia Goth’s Incredible Acting Abilities
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Neither of the films would have been nearly as effective without the pitch-perfect performance of Mia Goth as both Maxine Minx and Pearl. The actor is no stranger to appearing in intense films. Her career was first kicked off when she appeared in the 2013 Lars Von Trier film Nymphomaniac. A few years later, she appeared in the deeply disturbing post-apocalyptic drama The Survivalist. Over the new few years, she appeared in a trio of horror films that ran the gamut of setting and subgenre: A Cure for Wellness, High Life, and Suspiria.
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Goth has had to utilize every bit of her acting ability in the X franchise. Obviously, her experience in the horror genre was incredibly useful in the films. Both films see Goth depicting wide-eyed fear and fiery rage. However, the films are not simple slashers; she also needs to utilize her dramatic skills. Maxine Minx is a tragic figure who fled from her religious family, hoping to make it big in the adult film industry. Goth lets audiences in on the character’s desperation through her subtle expressiveness.
Near the end of Pearl, Goth’s titular character delivers a minutes-long monologue about her “mistakes,” lamenting the psychopathic side of her personality, and audiences are completely enraptured by the unbroken shot. Finally, both movies are actually quite funny, and Goth’s performance is complex enough to provide viewers with levity even when the on-screen content itself is deadly (literally) serious.
Maxine Minx and Pearl: Two Sides of the Same Coin
With the help of prosthetics, Mia Goth portrayed both Maxine Minx and Pearl in X, a directorial decision that served to highlight the movie’s themes of youth and beauty. As such, it was an easy decision to have her portray Pearl in the prequel. It was co-written by Goth and filmed in secret, making the announcement of its release all the more exciting for fans of the original film.
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Goth’s two characters are similar in a lot of ways. For starters, they are both beautiful women (this makes sense, given that the same actor portrays them), though, in X, Pearl’s beauty has faded with her advanced age. They both have, or previously had, ambitions that go beyond their humble upbringings. Pearl wants to become a world-famous dancer, while Minx has opted to pursue a career in adult film. Though these two professions seem, on the surface, to be a far cry from one another, both of the women’s dreams are actually rather similar. Becoming a famous dancer or an adult film star both require a certain amount of physical attractiveness, which can cause people to undervalue the skill necessitated by both careers.
Though Pearl clearly has a psychopathic streak that goes beyond mere competitiveness and desire, both women are motivated by a level of self-confidence that sometimes borders on delusion. Nothing can stand in the way of their master plans… and anything (or rather, anyone) who does won’t do so for long.
X received rave reviews from audiences and critics alike, and the recently released Pearl continues in that tradition. For both films, much of the praise can be attributed to Mia Goth and her respective performances. Maxine Minx and Pearl are two of the most compelling film characters in recent memory, and the overarching themes explored by the two women’s similarities give a lot of depth to the X franchise.
