Upamanyu Biswas
Directed by Ti West, the 2022 psychological horror film, ‘Pearl,’ dives into a colorful vision of the late 1910s as told through the eyes of a young woman named Pearl. Stuck in her parent’s isolated Powder Keg Farms, the young woman has to contend with her strict, non-conforming Germanic mother while waiting to be whisked away into a world of movie stardom. With the prospect of a church dance audition looming on the horizon, the young woman’s internal and external lives come to a head as her disturbing, murderous tendencies start to get the better of her.
Pearl’s misery is exacerbated by her husband’s absence in her life, who is serving overseas to bring an end to the War. She feels suffocated, especially when having to deal with an ailing father who is barely able to move on his own accord. Her various trappings underline the motivating factors of the tragic realities of her times and circumstances and the violence that later manifests through them. Therefore, the genesis of her character forms a significant part of the horror-laden aspects of the film, prompting a look into the inspirations of her serial killer roots and whether the film itself is based on a true story.
Pearl Delves Into the Origins of the Titular Serial Killer From X
In his second installment of the ‘X’ film franchise, ‘Pearl,‘ Ti West explores the makings of the eponymous serial killer who terrorizes the residents of ‘X‘ as they try to make an adult film on her farm premises. The film is a fictional narrative crafted by West and Mia Goth, who plays Pearl. The pair penned the screenplay during a two-week mandatory quarantine in a hotel while they were filming ‘X’ in New Zealand. West was unsure whether the film would be greenlit, so he considered the exercise an excellent way to generate deeper source material for the character.
In an interview with Forbes magazine, the director revealed, “When we went to New Zealand to make X, we had a two-week mandatory quarantine in a hotel, so that’s when the Pearl script was written. Also, it was created to be a movie that we can make back to back, or if A24 didn’t greenlight it, it would work as a character background for the character, and it would just be great prep for Mia. Obviously, we were hoping for the former, but you never know. It was a bold ask because we hadn’t even made X yet. All credit to A24; they loved the script and the plan that we already had all this stuff in New Zealand when nobody could make anything.”
The film uncovers Pearl’s origins and what caused her to pursue villainy. It follows her early life, set against the backdrop of 1918, when news of War and a viral pandemic were rampant nationwide. It provides a more rounded context to her backstory while differentiating it to the point that the film feels like an independent addition to the franchise, which was the primary goal. Ti West cited the ‘X’ film franchise as a way of exploring the influence of movies on its various characters, a theme that plays out in a central manner in Pearl’s life. Her aspirations to become a star both ground and distance her from her surroundings, causing much of the narrative to take shape.
Pearl is Stylized After the Works of Douglas Sirk and Technicolor Filmmaking
As movies play a pivotal role in ‘Pearl,’ Ti West was drawn to the different filmmaking styles to visualize Pearl’s story. He looked at several inspirations, including early black-and-white films, which would have felt authentic to the period setting in the narrative. He explained, “Initially, I thought of it being in 1918 and doing a black-and-white, almost German Expressionist kind of thing, and if you read the script, you could imagine that. That would have been the cheapest one, too, because we wouldn’t have had to paint anything. If it was bright red, who cares? It would look grey, it didn’t matter.”
As both ‘X’ and ‘Pearl’ were meant to be filmed back to back, embracing a black-and-white style would have solved the issues relating to production, especially the budgetary requirements. However, this was not a concern for the studio as they wanted West to do what was best for the film. Because there had been several black-and-white releases around that time, including ‘The Lighthouse‘ and ‘Malcolm and Marie,‘ the director felt compelled to abandon his initial approach and adopt a brilliantly colorful and saturated palette inspired by the technicolor films of the past.
“It was probably more, in a way, the classic Golden Age of Hollywood filmmaking and those tropes, maybe like Hitchcock as far as the suspense goes,” the director revealed. “It wasn’t like I was thinking about Universal Monster movies or certain B movies of the day. ‘What Ever Happened to Baby Jane’ maybe came into my mind, but that depends on your definition of horror. Once we committed to a very, almost Disney-esque aesthetic, references go out the window because we were kind of in our own world making something. The goal was to make something that felt very childish and full of wonder, but then make it demented and disturbing.”
The works of Douglas Sirk, ‘Mary Poppins,’ ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ and ‘Gone With the Wind‘ were all influential in designing the look and feel of ‘Pearl.’ The primary goal was to take visuals that were generally associated with warm, traditional, and wholesome things and revamp them in a new light that would fit the corrupting aesthetic at the heart of the 2022 film. “I just had this weird demented Norman Rockwell tableau kind of thing in my head. Pearl was very much about these traditionally wholesome painterly images and recontextualizing them.” West added.
The Fictional Roots of Pearl and Her Murderous Instinct
While ‘Pearl’ provides a complete picture of the serial killer whose murderous antics strike a deathly chill into those who learn her real identity, the character in and of herself is a fictional personality crafted by Ti West. In the film, viewers get a glimpse into the various psychological triggers that ultimately play a part in her descent into hell. Her strict German immigrant mother keeps a tight leash around her neck as Pearl dreams of leaving everything behind to pursue a life on the silver screen. The clash between the repressive values of her times and her internal challenges leads her down a very dark path, providing viable reasons for her transformation from an ordinary farm girl in the early 1900s to a serial killer much later.
West and Mia Goth tried to decode the character’s genesis by diving into her early life as a source of all her troubles. In an interview, the director said, “Mia Goth and I had spent a lot of time talking about the Pearl character, who we only catch up with in her 80s in X, and we had been talking about what she was like when she was younger. That seemed like a good jumping-off point, so she and I started spitballing ideas.” In many ways, the character is a mirror for Maxine, the protagonist of ‘X.’ Goth plays both Maxine and Pearl, an intentional choice meant to illustrate the thematic similarities between the characters while differentiating them through their outcomes.
In ‘X,’ Pearl is jealous of the stardom Maxine seems to have garnered for herself, something that she could never do herself. ‘Pearl’ dives into those aspects of her origins, emphasizing how they shaped her as a person. Although Pearl is a fictional murderer in the franchise, a similar case of serial killings can be found in the life and crimes of Ray and Faye Copeland, an elderly con artist couple who committed several murders. They were mainly Ray’s handiwork, with his wife acting as an accomplice. The husband-wife duo were connected with the deaths of at least five drifters and were given a death sentence later, making them the oldest couple to receive the penalty in American history at the age of 76 and 69. Ray passed away in 1993 while still awaiting execution, and Faye died in 2003.
The creepy and gruesome antics of Howard and Pearl in ‘X’ can be loosely traced to the actual crimes of the Copeland couple. However, in the case of the former, it is clearly shown that Pearl is the one with the greater psychopathic and killing tendencies, while it was the husband, Ray, who did the killings among the Copelands. Therefore, while the serial killer protagonist of ‘Pearl‘ may have several facets that are intricately fleshed to make her seem as authentic and scary as possible, the character does not exist in reality and is confined to the realms of the ‘X’ series.
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