How Pearl, X, and MaXXXine Are Connected

Pearl It's Ti West's origin story about the now-famous villain in the hit horror film in early 2022. X. This villain, Pearl, has been the subject of much conversation and speculation about her beginnings when X The film premiered in March 2022. Soon after, we got to see what pushed this character to his breaking point. The first part of Ti West’s growing narrative was an homage to 70s horror films, but it also introduced audiences to his vision that combined classic aesthetics with original storytelling.

Pearl's character is well established in both X series and modern horror films. However, apart from her role in XMaxine's character has not yet been fully fleshed out. Maxine It takes what we know about Maxine's ambitions and throws them at the wall. In the 1980s, Maxine balances her guilt over Pearl's murder with her eternal desire to succeed as a Hollywood movie star.

Each film in the trilogy deals with the film industry.

As with every film in the trilogy, Pearl A period film. Set in a time frame like 1918, we see how the main character deals with the elements that plague the world around him at that time. The way the opening credits are presented and the choices in the soundtrack create a classic horror movie presentation that we haven't seen in a film in a while.

World War I, the Spanish flu, and the advent of movies all bring Pearl's life to a boiling point. Pearl is confined to her home with an emotionally abusive mother (Tandy Wright) and an ailing father (Matthew Sunderland). Pearl's mother, Ruth, forces her to live within the four walls of the house and forbids her from even discussing going out into the outside world, which moves into the future without her.

One of the elements in this film that connects it to X And Maxine It is the film industry.From silent films to adult films and beyond. There is a sequence where a theater operator (David Corenswet) shows Pearl a movie that no one has ever seen before. He shows her an adult film, and she is amazed by its cruelty and animalistic style. He tells Pearl that this is the future of animated films.

In the early days of 1918, a film like the one Pearl saw was supposed to be hidden from the public eye. However, she saw the resurgence of the industry knocking on her door in X When a group of filmmakers want to shoot an adult movie on their property. Pearl just wanted to be loved and be able to share her talents on screen. In any way she could, but there was always a darkness inside her that tied her two roles together.

I will not accept a life I do not deserve.

in X, Maxine wanted to make her way to fame, and the only way she could find a way was through adult entertainment. The 1970s saw a boom in adult entertainment, and it was more accessible than ever before. Herein lay her chance to be seen and loved. However, there is a through line within the film that connects Goth’s two characters, Maxine and Pearl, which becomes more prevalent when you watch the three films back to back.

This line has been mentioned several times throughout. XHowever, it is equally significant when we see Pearl's breakdown. She is trapped on a farm and forced to deal with the same routine over and over again. We see some flashes of light when she dances in the barn for her audience of cattle. She dances and fantasizes about a romantic relationship with a scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield. She also loves movies, which she must watch secretly from her mother. Pearl sees opportunities to break through and escape from a life she doesn't deserve.…or does it?

Then in MaxineWe learn the origin of this line, as her strict father almost forces Maxine to accept its meaning as truth. When we first hear it during the home movie that opens MaxineThe feeling of hesitation adds depth to Maxine's character and makes her closer to Pearl's character. Like Pearl, Maxine longs to be seen and appreciated for what she believes she is. A star. But like Pearl's mother, Maxine's father (Simon Proust) has a very different idea of ​​the life she is destined to live.Ultimately, this determines his fate, as Maxine is destined to do whatever it takes to fulfill her destiny, distorting the meaning of this line to suit her own ambitions. Maxine knows what she deserves, and it's not what her father thinks.

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T-West direction

Ti West has evolved as a director throughout this trilogy. Pearl, Just like West's mastery X, The film features long sequences of anxiety and tension. But also beautiful moments with complex camera movements and transitions. It allows its characters to be in the moment and allows the audience to absorb their expressions. Pearl It could have been made in the early days of cinema, just as X It was probably made in the 70's, and Maxine In the 80's. The soundtrack for Pearl The film is orchestral and plays on the action very well. However, the beautiful use of color makes all the images on the screen stand out, even the red ones.

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exactly like X, This film is beautifully shot, edited and photographed. Cinematographer Elliot Rockett worked on both films in West's story and gave each its own aesthetic that reflects the time period in which the events take place. When this is carried over to the next film, The West maintains this approach in Maxinewith some major changes made to the mid-1980s period setting.West brilliantly captures the rough nightlife of Los Angeles, the seedy sex shows, and the typical smoky alleys. All of this is complemented by a very contemporary style that embodies how today's audiences perceive 1980s Hollywood, in a way very similar to what West embodied in Pearl.

Maxine Happens after the events Xwhere Maxine escapes Pearl's murder in the first film. She arrives in Los Angeles, and finds work as an adult film actress, with some work in erotic shows. Pearl's murder becomes central to the plot, as a private investigator (Kevin Bacon) is hired to bring attention to it.Throughout, explicit references to Pearl are made. X They were made, the most notable of which was a picture of an old Pearl standing at the same window through which Mrs. Bates can be seen in Hitchcock's Psycho.

Nothing directly mentioned to PearlAnyone who witnessed the events of the second film died with Pearl and her husband Howard in X.