Pearl

Un Joker au féminin. Aussi intéressant, psychologiquement construit avec soin et cinématographiquement raffiné, que le profil d'un asocial instable qui dépasse les limites, comme l'a été le film acclamé avec Joaquin Phoenix. L'environnement d'une famille de « Hillbilly » dans une maison de la campagne Texane m'est encore plus proche. Ti West suggère ici de manière idyllique à quoi pouvaient ressembler les débuts d'autres familles texanes célèbres... La stylisation rétro kitsch contraste avec les tons sombres de la bande sonore, suggère la présence du mal caché et laisse progressivement éclater son explosion. Le personnage principal ravit les fans du genre non seulement avec une fourche ou une hache en main, mais aussi par un long monologue sur sa propre déchirure mentale. Mia Goth est remarquable. Et ces éclairs audiovisuels à la Kubrick et Hitchcock... un plaisir formel pour les intéressés. (06/11/2022)

Ti West, après X, slasher rétro assez réussi, nous offre un technicolor cauchemardesque qui fonctionne parfaitement dans son habit kitch (volontaire). Pearl, contrairement à son film précédent, est imprévisible et s’écarte des tendances du genre. Et Mia Goth confirme une fois de plus qu'elle est une force incroyablement énergique dans le cinéma de genre actuel. (28/05/2023)

Some people say that a film is as good as its villain, and, Pearl is a perfect example. Mia Goth is amazing, on a small space she can play a naive girl, a broken woman, a demon-ridden bitch and a total psychopath, she has all of that in her acting register. Her almost ten-minute confession at the end, filmed in one take, blew my mind. Moreover, it's all supported by a script that flows naturally, has a logical development and almost reaches the level of Phoenix's Joker in terms of psychology. And the visual games with the camera, the opening with classical music in the style of good old Hollywood! I'm just shocked that after the botched X, Ti West was able to create something like this. This is a little horror treat, made with love and art, aimed at film connoisseurs. (26/06/2023)

After the great X comes a steep fall that leaves bitter aftertaste. Ti West isn't my favourite director, in fact X is the only film I liked from him, so I was definitely curious about the prequel and the original villains, and the rave reviews overseas indicated it was going to be a hit, but here comes quite a disappointment. It's a bit hard to judge because Pearl definitely has its qualities, but from a horror perspective it's a big bummer. X gave a flashback to the hixploitation films of a bygone era, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in particular came to mind for everyone, it had juicy gore, creepy bad guys and soft porn in the first half. Pearl unfortunately has none of that and goes in a different direction, which will no doubt disappoint most viewers. Let's summarize the pros first. The setting in the wartime period of 1918 is nice, a very unusual time for a horror film, so welcome. Mia Goth gives the performance of a lifetime, she's good, psychologically disturbed, believable and able to command attention. The dialogue is also engaging and the cinematography isn't bad either, but that's it unfortunately. If this was a drama, it would be a decent film that is well made and acted, but horror fans will get nothing here. No hint of atmosphere, no gore?!! Okay, that one scene at the end it’s not enough. It's neither creepy nor dark, in fact ‘horror’ seems to me to be a misnomer. It's a psychological study of a disturbed girl in an unconventional period and if you accept that you might be OK, but for my taste it was a heavy slow burn drama and I certainly not what I was expecting. The five-minute monologue and the family dinner during the storm (quite possibly the best scene of the film) was interesting. 5/10. (21/10/2022)

A treat, but be prepared for it to be a completely different film than X. While the first film in the series referenced dirty exploitation classics, this one is more of a beautifully colourful naive drama, with nasty perversion and depravity bubbling under the surface. Mia Goth in the lead role is great, pulling it off with aplomb, the clear highlight of the film being her lengthy monologue shortly before the end. For me, compared to X, weaker as horror, but better as a film. (21/10/2022)