Pearl Movie Ending Explained (In Detail)

The Pearl movie ending explained how Pearl became the slasher killer fans met in X. Only months following the release of Ti West’s X, the director also released its horror prequel, Pearl. Fans met Pearl in X, where she and her husband Howard were an elderly couple living on a farm in rural Texas. However, when a group of young adults show up and want to use their guesthouse, only to shoot a porn movie there, they learn too late that Pearl and Howard are slasher killers. Set 60 years before the events of X, the prequel film follows the titular character in her youth and shows why she became a killer.

Pearl documents the origin of the character (once again played by Mia Goth) and her reasons for killing. Pearl is living in Texas with her parents while her husband, Howard, is fighting in World War I. Hungering for stardom and bitter towards her mother, Ruth, for standing in her way of dancing in the moving pictures, Pearl finally snaps. After her mother tells Pearl that there is something wrong with her, this leads to the first of many murders for the troubled young woman as she kills her parents and a projectionist she slept with. Pearl’s ending sees the titular character in the midst of a breakdown.

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What Happens In Pearl's Ending

After her first murders, Pearl auditions to be in a dance troupe, but the judges reject her outright based simply on how she looks. Pearl later opens up to her sister-in-law, Mitzy, about her guilt-ridden feelings, as well as her murderous actions. She explains that she loves Howard, but she feels the need to sleep with the projectionist because she ultimately feels trapped by the fact that Howard never wanted to leave the farm before going off to fight in World War I. This left her lonely and starving for attention, wanting nothing more than to leave and start a new life as an actress and dancer.

Pearl’s admission freaks out Mitzy, who attempts to leave the farm unscathed. However, Pearl kills her and later prepares a dinner with the bodies of her dead victims, only for Howard to finally arrive from war in shock at his wife’s actions. Pearl’s ending isn’t a shock considering all the people she killed throughout the horror film, but it does reveal how the eponymous character turned into the bitter and fame-hungry killer viewers know from X.

The Movies That Influenced Ti West’s Pearl

While X drew much of its influence from Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Pearl pulls from another era of Hollywood movies altogether. Ti West pays homage to The Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins, in particular, as well as the technicolor films from the 1950s. Even the horror film’s font is in the style of films from the era. In terms of The Wizard of Oz, Pearl and Dorothy have certain similarities.

They both live on a farm and end up going to places they never thought they’d go. While Pearl is more obviously violent, the character and Dorothy both feel stuck in a place they don’t want to be — Dorothy in Oz and Pearl on her family’s farm. Both The Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins are alive with color and Pearl keeps that brightness to juxtapose with the deadly actions of its main character.

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Why Howard Stays With Pearl After Returning To The Farm

Thanks to X, fans know that Howard decided to stay with Pearl and the couple has been married for a long time. Howard is gone for the majority of Pearl, away fighting during World War I, which is nearing its end at the start of the film. When he returns, he’s well aware that his wife, in his absence, has become a mass murderer. Although Howard clearly looks scared of Pearl, it’s possible he stays with her because he recognizes that she isn’t well.

It could also be he sticks around because he doesn’t want to meet the same fate as his in-laws, who were both killed by Pearl over the course of the film. Fear can drive many people’s actions, and Howard is no exception. There is clearly a lot of love between the pair, and Howard may have felt pity and loyalty towards Pearl. His decision to stay not only protects him from being killed, but he is in a position to keep others away from the farm, far away from Pearl’s killer tendencies.

Pearl’s History Explained: Why She’s So Drawn To Stardom

Pearl hates her life on the farm. She feels it’s a trap; there is nowhere to go and no place to grow. Pearl is essentially stuck where she is, but her heart yearns for more. She thinks she’s special, and it’s this idea, as well as her talent for dancing, that draws her to stardom. Pearl believes she’s meant for something more than being a simple, married woman tending to a farm. Fame represents freedom for her, an escape from her monotonous life. What’s more, Pearl longs for sexual freedom as well, which is why she’s drawn to the Projectionist, sleeps with him, and climaxes on top of a scarecrow.

The horror film showcases how Pearl was deprived of the attention and love she so desperately sought elsewhere, and stardom would have given her that attentiveness, as well as the feeling of being seen and seemingly understood by strangers who could potentially fawn over her and appreciate her talent when no one at home clearly did. Pearl is also lonely and isolated, with the Spanish Flu making its rounds in the U.S., cutting her off from others even further.

How Pearl Remains A Sympathetic Character Despite Her Horrific Actions

Pearl is a murderer, there is no doubt about that. The character is vengeful and will kill anyone she believes is standing in the way of getting what she wants. In Pearl, what she wants is fame and freedom above all else. But despite Pearl being a killer, Mia Goth’s monologue in the scene before she kills Mitzy is heartfelt and sad. One can’t help but feel a bit sad for Pearl, especially since she’s stuck in a place she doesn’t want to be and lost her only ticket to freedom. The character’s complicated feelings, despair, and need to get away compound with her sense of childlike naïveté to create sympathy.

It’s clear Pearl doesn’t quite understand herself and struggles with her actions. She does things out of frustration and anger, but can’t quite wrap her head around the reasons behind her bloody lashing out. Pearl’s actions are nonetheless horrific, but they remain tinged with pity as the character’s desperation for attention and love grows to murderous rampages that cannot be excused.

The Real Meaning Of Pearl’s Ending Explained

At the heart of Pearl is the theme of repression. It’s that which holds Pearl back from leaving her family and farm life behind for true stardom, and it’s what also keeps her from experiencing sexual freedom. Pearl is tied down in many ways — be it through guilt, having been raised in a stern household that values and promotes her repression or loyalty to her absent husband. After all, Pearl could have gone to California to be in the moving pictures despite being rejected by the dance troupe. It wasn’t her only chance to escape her life, but Pearl sure felt that way.

Quelling her desires, and feeling like she can't break out of the box her life had put her in, ultimately pushes her to anger, frustration, and resentment. These feelings, in turn, lead to her becoming a murderer, killing the people she feels stand in her way or who somehow prevent her from becoming who she believes she is meant to be. Furthermore, Pearl’s repression, now internalized, is what keeps her on the farm even after she kills almost everybody in her life.

How Pearl's Ending Connects To MaXXXine

While Pearl and X came out within months of each other, the third movie in Ti West's franchise will be longer in coming to theaters. This movie is MaXXXine, and it brings Mia Goth back as Maxine, from the movie X. Remember, in that movie, Maxine kills Pearl when she drives over her head as she escapes. Pearl had fallen and broken her hip, and Maxine was relentless and wanted Pearl dead after all she went through. There are also parallels between Maxine and Pearl, as shown in the Pearl movie ending.

While Pearl wanted to find stardom in movies, she saw those dreams come to an end and took it out on those around her in murderous ways. Maxine also wanted to become a star, and it was her opportunity to be in a pornographic movie at Pearl's farm guesthouse that ended up ruined with everyone around her dead. The MaXXXine movie description indicates that Maxine is still working in the adult film industry, and it sounds like there will be murders piling up. Seeing Pearl lose control of her emotions and kill people when she finds people blocking her dreams, it seems likely that Maxine might follow her lead, with history repeating itself.