Mia Goth is no stranger to playing characters struggling with dire circumstances. She’s done bleak sci-fi with High Life (2018) and lived in a haunted home in Marrowbone (2017). There is something different to her roles in A Cure for Wellness (2016) and Suspiria (2018). Goth’s characters are oblivious to danger, until it’s too late. Visually and story-wise, she is trapped by oppressive elders. There’s more to the actress than a captivating supporting performance. Two recent movies make sure of that: X and Pearl. Mia Goth is the star, in performances that have her fight to survive and even kill if the outcome favors her. It took some time, now Mia Goth gets to be a force to be reckoned with.

Her Role in 'A Cure for Wellness'

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Image via 20th Century Fox

In the gothic thriller A Cure for Wellness, she’s Hannah, staying at a wellness center under the strict rule of Dr. Volmer (Jason Isaacs). Naively, Hannah does what she’s told. She drinks from a special vial. What is the fluid she consumes? Vitamins, or so she believes. There’s a vulnerability and sweetness to her performance, traits that will continue to evolve in following movies. Hannah captures the eye of Lockhart (Dane DeHaan), the ambitious executive who has arrived to find his missing CEO. In a visceral moment, of which there are many, Lockhart sees Hannah in an objectifying vision. She lies in a tub of, nude and very still, being swarmed by curling, slimy eels. The hold Hannah has on Volmer is something else entirely.

He gives her special attention, treating her like a daughter. And that’s because she is. After revelation upon revelation, the truth is pure Gothic horror. Volmer is a centuries-old baron, looking good for his age thanks to a “cure” he’s invented with the bodies of the center’s residents and eels. This method isn’t for eternal life but prolonged life. Things get worse for Hannah when Volmer, her father, forces her into being his wife. While Lockhart succeeds in escaping the facility and frees Hannah from Volmer’s control, who knows what her fate will be. She’s lived a stunted life. In the supernatural Suspiria, Goth’s role is bigger, but her fate more unpleasant.

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Her Role in 'Suspiria' (2018)

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Image via Amazon Films

Playing Sara, she befriends Susie (Dakota Johnson), the new student to the prestigious Markos dance company. Susie may be a novice but easily captures the attention of top instructor Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton). There’s a slight jealousy to Sara as she sees how quickly Susie turns into Blanc’s protégée. If only she knew what was to come. Hesitant at first, Sara starts to investigate what happened to Patricia (Chloë Grace Moretz), a fellow dancer who suddenly left. Except, Patricia hasn’t gone far. Witches reign over the academy and the students. Patricia, knowing too much, is killed, her corpse left in a state of suspended animation in the inner sanctum. Madame Blanc oversees what happens above. Below in the darkness, Helena Markos lives, an ancient and cruel witch.

Played by Swinton too, the actress is covered in makeup and prosthetics for a grotesque and diseased appearance. When Sara discovers the sanctum, she’s lucky a first visit leaves her unscathed. The second trip down is doomed. Occult booby traps cause holes to form on the floor. Sara steps in one, breaking her leg. It’s graphic, all the more painful due to this being the last time Sara has any free will. The witches put Sara under a spell and force the girl to join an active dance performance. She does, before eventually collapsing from the pain. In the bloody finale, only death can set her free. That is a far cry from what X (2022) offers.

Her Role in 'X'

Mia Goth in X
Image via A24

Maxine (Goth) travels with actors and a crew to make a porno on a secluded farm. Elderly couple, Pearl (Goth again) and Howard (Stephen Ure) own the property and execute a bloody massacre on the visitors. In playing two unequivocally different roles, Goth shines. If Swinton can disappear under old age effects, (twice, as Markos and as a male psychotherapist), so too can Goth. She plays the old and frail Pearl, her skeleton poking out at various points of her body. What makes it all the more remarkable is how Goth disguises herself under all the makeup. First-time viewers might rightfully wonder just who the hell is this actress. Goth disrupts her own mobility, for a slow, almost off-balance movement as Pearl. The true success is Goth’s ability to create a sympathetic monster by using the vulnerable, charismatic traits she’s displayed in Wellness and Suspiria. Pearl wishes to have the youth and sexual liberation Maxine and the other adult film actors enjoy.

She’s a unique slasher villain, nowhere near as strong as Jason, Michael, or any number of those bad dudes. Perhaps Chucky (Brad Dourif) is her closest counterpart. Doll-size, Chucky uses what could be a disadvantage to his advantage for vicious kills. Similarly, Pearl’s frail state doesn’t hinder her, at least for most of the runtime. The first onscreen kill happens because RJ (Owen Campbell) walks up to her, thinking she's senile. Once rejected by him, Pearl stabs him without any warning. It’s stylish and dream-like, saying much about her character. Blue Öyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper” plays as blood-splattered car lights give everything a red tint. Pearl nearly decapitates RJ, before seeing the crimson lighting, and doing a delicate dance in it. She might have a good hold on a knife or a pitchfork, but a shotgun is a whole other matter. In trying to finish off Maxine, Pearl’s body can’t handle the force, and she gets flung back.

Playing Maxine, Goth has an air of confidence and a sprinkle of narcissism. She dreams of being a star. It might be this inflated ego that saves her in the end. Because of her beauty, it catches Pearl’s eye. For a while, Maxine is prey. The older woman either crawls into bed next to her, or Maxine needs to hide under the same bed as Pearl has sex with her husband. Being this slasher flick’s Final Girl, Maxine puts her escape vehicle in reverse, obliterating Pearl’s skull. Within all this, Maxine’s past is teased out. The conservative preacher on various TVs, from a gas station to Pearl’s home, is her father, a man labeling his daughter’s step into pornography as a descent into a sinful life. “I will not accept a life I do not deserve,” Maxine tells herself early on. She goes on to tell this to Pearl, too. Maxine lives life to this mantra. And like her father, now Pearl is just a memory.

There is a sharp contrast between what these two women want. Pearl practically begs her husband into telling her sweet-nothings: “Tell me I’m special,” “Tell me I’m yours.” Pearl is her own worst enemy, desperate and needing the validation of others. Maxine, on the other hand, is her own savior. In a relationship with producer Wayne (Martin Henderson), Maxine doesn’t grieve when she learns of his death. He was a means to get seen on camera. She can’t worry about his death; she needs to survive.

Her Role in 'Pearl'

Mia Goth as Pearl swinging an axe down at the ground in 'Pearl.'
Image via A24

In Pearl (2022), the titular character may not get her wish to be a star, but Mia Goth sure does. The whole movie is a showcase of what Goth can do. For this prequel, she adds layers to the monster first seen in X. From the beginning, Pearl is the predator. To help audiences know what she’s capable of, she kills a goose that rubs her the wrong way. From this, one can only imagine what she could do to a human. The costuming singles Pearl out, like her desperate ego craves. She may start out in overalls, but she is no docile farm girl. What makes everything more compelling, is how complicated it all is.

Is Pearl a sweet girl with murderous outbursts, or is she a murderer forcing herself to be sweet? Her doe-eyed expressions can unsettle or be part of a whimsical charm. You can understand why Pearl’s household is so harsh to her, just as much as you understand why she needs to escape it. Ruth (Tandi Wright), an overbearing mother, knows the ghastly side of her daughter. She’s stuck caring for a paralyzed husband, stuck in a life she didn’t expect. Ruth ridicules Pearl for wanting to leave them behind. It’s painful and also ridiculous how hard Pearl sobs when she fails the dance contest. But to her, this was her one and only shot of escaping. She has nothing left to cling to.

Goth’s face gets a close up, or one long take after another, to capture everything. There is the frenzied energy she puts into her dance tryout. After getting smacked by her mother, Pearl swings her own slap and contorts her face into rage. Mia Goth does an awful lot of screaming in the prequel. She doesn’t know how to handle her emotions and her inability to balance these extremes leads to Pearl’s breakdown. A nearly ten-minute long monologue gives Pearl (and Goth) a tornado of emotions to roar through. There’s disappointment, bitterness, sadness, pain -- and acceptance. There’s that vulnerability again. It’s even more twisted because after a sobbing mess, Pearl chases down her sister-in-law. What should be as bewitching a visual as a tub of eels, Pearl, vibrant in a red dress, raises an axe up like she’s reaching to the blue sky. Then she delivers the fatal blow.

Pearl’s two sides are really just one and the same. During the end credits, Pearl’s face is really so much better than resorting to a dark screen. The pained smile and teary eyes are as if invisible hands are grabbing them, keeping them in place. Seeing this evolution to Mia Goth’s roles is a rollercoaster of a ride. There’s no question about her talent in delivering such performances, it was always there. It just needed the right roles. MaXXXine, the next film in the X franchise, is on the horizon, offering more of the Final Girl who will not accept a life she does not deserve. Although there is not much else known, Mia Goth getting the spotlight again is enough to be excited by.