Mia Goth’s Breakthrough: "Pearl" and the Birth of a Horror Icon
- ZedBear
- Sep 9
- 4 min read
Original article is here
I’d seen Mia Goth before - she was ethereal in the criminally under appreciated A Cure for Wellness…
And haunting in the slow-burn horror, Marrowbone (And check out her co-stars - WOW!)
But none of that prepared me for the absolute showcase that was Ti West’s horror trifecta: X, Pearl, and MaXXXine.
For me, it was Pearl that blew the doors wide open and gave her the room to truly shine.
If you’ve read any of my other articles, you’ll know I’m a sucker for big emotions-especially when they collide with the obsessive pursuit of fame. Pearl gives us exactly that.
Though released after X, the story comes first in the trilogy’s timeline. We meet Pearl stuck on a remote farm in 1918, trapped between her disabled father and her domineering mother.
All she wants is to escape the farm, the family, the poverty, the repression. She dreams of the screen, of becoming someone.
When her wealthy, golden-haired friend mentions a local talent competition, Pearl defies her mother and sneaks away to audition. That audition sequence is one of my favorites in the film: a demented smile plastered across her face…
A dance routine polished to mechanical perfection, and a desperation that practically seeps through the screen..
As the audience, we feel it-it’s the same raw hunger you see on reality shows like American Idol, people convinced they were “born for this”.
But instead of a triumphant “yes,” Pearl gets the dreaded rejection.
Her breakdown and her prophetic words “I'm a star!” are so cruel - ughh, watching her begging the judges is cringe-inducing and heartbreaking in equal measure,
And just when you think it can’t get any worse, she learns her untalented but pretty friend has snagged the spot instead.
And then we get to the film’s crown jewel: Pearl's monologue.
Her friend comes over, and Pearl begins to unravel-pouring out her grief, her rage, her fears of insignificance.
The camera locks onto her face and stays there.
No cuts.
Just Mia, who has disappeared into the role. She IS Pearl.
No distractions, just delivering a gut-wrenching, unbroken confession that veers between heartbreak and madness.
It’s one of the most extraordinary horror performances I’ve ever seen.
That moment should have won her an Oscar. At the very least, a nomination. But as usual, the Academy turned its back on horror. (Yes, I’m still bitter!)
By the time the shot widens again, the look of dawning terror on her friend’s face tells us everything we need to know: the nightmare has begun, and it’s gonna be personal…
But before the tears and the breakdown, we get another moment that tells us who Pearl really is: the scarecrow scene.
Very “NSFW”. You think the pie scene in American Pie is bad?
Check this out…
It’s shocking, funny, sad, and disturbing all at once-Pearl climbing up onto that scarecrow in a feverish mix of longing and rage.
On one level, it’s pure sexual frustration. She’s a young woman locked up on a farm, her desires policed by her mother, her husband away at war.
But on another level, it’s about destiny. In Pearl’s mind, she’s already chosen by the universe to be a star.
She believes fame is owed to her, that she deserves to be worshipped and adored.
The tragedy - and the horror - is that reality doesn’t agree.
That disconnect between how she sees herself and how the world sees her is the same wound at the heart of Mulholland Drive’s Diane Selwyn.
Both women are consumed by the dream of Hollywood, convinced it’s their fate to be remembered.
And when reality pulls that dream away, it destroys them from the inside out.
It’s that combination-lust, longing, and delusion-that makes Pearl terrifying but also deeply human.
We might not act on it the way she does, but most of us know the sting of believing in a destiny that never arrives.
And like Naomi Watts’s devastating turn as Diane, Mia Goth’s Pearl is a career-defining performance that the Academy pretended not to see.
Horror and horror-adjacent roles have a way of being ignored when awards season comes around-but those of us who love the genre know these are the performances that last.
Of course, I’d be remiss not to talk about MaXXXine.
It shifts us into the neon-soaked world of 1980s Los Angeles. Mia Goth now plays Maxine, the aspiring actress from X
And once again we find ourselves at an audition.
But this time the outcome is flipped.
Check out the video here so you can see her nail it…
Maxine nails it-oozing confidence, blowing away the competition, and strutting out past the other hopefuls like John Travolta in the opening of Saturday Night Fever!
The line, the swagger, the convertible getaway-it’s pure, unfiltered cool.
“Y’all might as well go home ‘cause I just f&cking nailed that!”
And then comes the ultimate mind-bender: the fact that in X, Mia Goth played both Maxine AND the elderly Pearl.
Two completely different characters, two completely unforgettable performances.
Now she’s stepping into Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, and if the early stills are anything to go by, we’re in for something truly special.
For me, Mia Goth isn’t just a great horror actress-she’s the defining face of this new wave of elevated, risk-taking genre cinema.
Just as Naomi Watts became immortalized for her heartbreaking performance in Mulholland Drive, Mia Goth’s Pearl will be remembered as the moment horror crowned its new queen.
And remember - even though she hasn't nabbed an Oscar just yet, she'll just keep on smiling…
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