Earlier this month saw the UK release of Pearl, a prequel to Ti West’s retro-horror X, starring and co-written by the extraordinary Mia Goth. A uniquely arresting screen presence (check out the final-frame smile of Pearl for proof), Goth is back again in another jaw-dropping role that positively fizzes with playfully dangerous pizzaz. She may take second billing to Swedish star Alexander Skarsgård in this Canadian-Hungarian-Croatian co-production but make no mistake – it’s her anarchic energy that drives the deliciously outre and satirical third feature from writer-director Brandon Cronenberg.
“Where are we?” asks James (Skarsgård), staring out from the terrace of an exclusive hotel towards an anonymously blissful beach on a remote holiday island. A minor author whose debut novel, The Variable Sheath, owed its existence to his media mogul father-in-law, James has been blocked for the last six years. These days, his wealthy wife, Em (Cleopatra Coleman), can’t tell if he’s asleep or awake, particularly within the dreamy confines of this chic resort – a white palace in a poor country, where the peace of the super-rich is broken occasionally by local protesters, largely kept at bay by barbed wire fences.
