How Does MaXXXine Connect with Pearl and X? Here’s the Explanation
MaXXXine has finally been released in theaters. The film directed by Ti West puts an end to one of the best slasher sagas of recent years. Those who enjoy a not-so-moderate dose of blood in a good horror film already have X and Pearl, its predecessors released in 2022, on a pedestal. The trilogy shares common themes (such as an emphasis on filmmaking in different periods of history and the glorification of fame), yet they are told in different timelines. Can you watch MaXXXine without having seen X and Pearl beforehand? Yes, but the experience won’t be the same and you’ll likely miss certain details of the character development played by Mia Goth. So, here’s a reasonable guide before you buy your tickets, or to clarify your doubts if you saw it on its opening weekend.
Written and directed by Ti West, the A24-produced film X was released in theaters in March 2022, quickly becoming the most talked-about horror film of the year. Why was it so much talked about? Many moviegoers didn’t know what it was about: its brief title leaves a lot to the imagination, and it premiered at SXSW just days before hitting theaters. From there, comments, reviews, and social media took care of popularizing it: praised as an homage to films like 1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre as well as the psychopath horror movies of yesteryear, X breathed new life into the slasher genre. When we least expected it, just a few months later, Pearl, the prequel to X, arrived and premiered at the Venice International Film Festival to a similar reception. This week, the trailer for the final installment of the X trilogy, MaXXXine, arrived, leaving us excited to find out how the story of Maxine Minx, whom we met in X, will end.
First Things First: What is MaXXXine About?
Set in 1985, MaXXXine tells the story of Maxine Minx, an aspiring Hollywood star whose resume has developed in the pornography industry. After several auditions, the actress lands a role to star in The Puritan II, the sequel to a bloody horror film, a promise of cult cinema. There’s a major obstacle in Maxine’s career. The police are investigating a wave of murders that all have her as a common thread. This leads her to revisit the events that occurred in X when she was the only survivor of a massacre on a Texas farm after accompanying her production team to shoot an adult film.
In What Order Should You Watch the X, Pearl, and MaXXXine Trilogy?
Ti West’s films were released in this order: X, Pearl, and MaXXXine, however, the narrative does not have a linear chronology. This would be the order to watch chronologically:
- Pearl
- X
- MaXXXine
Pearl introduces us to the universe created by Ti West. Set in 1918, it tells the story of Pearl, a young woman who lives confined to a farm caring for her father, who suffers from paralysis, under the orders of a strict and uncaring mother. Amid her tedious reality, Pearl dreams of becoming a great movie star. Much later, in 1979, Pearl still lives on the same farm, now with her husband, Howard. This is where X begins when the couple welcomes a production crew into their home to shoot the film that would star Maxine, but it all ends in a series of murders started by Pearl when she stabs the director after he rejects her in an attempt to seduce him. The film concludes with Maxine as the only survivor of these crimes, after running Pearl over with her car and killing her. In the ending it is also possible to learn that Mia Goth’s character is the daughter of a pastor who asks for help to find her after she ran away from home. Finally, MaXXXine begins six years after the massacre to continue the story of the actress who seeks to make her way in Hollywood at any cost.
How Are Pearl and MaXXXine Related?
But how are these three films connected beyond being part of a trilogy? First, let’s explain it to you chronologically and simply. Let’s start with Pearl, the prequel, where we learn the origin of Pearl’s character and the reasons that made her become a murderer on the rural farm where she was raised. Here, Pearl, a young woman who lives with her German immigrant parents on their farm, feels trapped in small-town life, caring for her sick father and under the bitter and authoritarian surveillance of her devoted mother: however, her dream is to become a Hollywood star, and as her desire for fame grows, her ambitions, temptations, and repressions end in violence. Then we come to X, a film set in the 70s and with new characters. Here we see Mia Goth playing someone new: Maxine Minx, an adult film actress who arrives at Pearl’s farm (and her husband Howard) to film a new movie. Things end a little bloody at the hands of the elderly couple Pearl and Howard, who are quite religious and follow an evangelical pastor who preaches on TV… who we discover is the father of Maxine, who turns out to be the final girl in the film.
Without a doubt, the most intriguing plot point in the MaXXXine trailer is the private investigator who is looking for Maxine. Played by Kevin Bacon, this private investigator could be the key to uncovering Maxine’s past following the shocking revelation about her father in X. When the private detective is introduced in the trailer, he tells her that the mysterious client who hired him is determined to find her and that one day he will come knocking on her door. The trailer doesn’t reveal exactly who hired the private detective (it could be someone related to Pearl and her husband, or it could be related to something that will be revealed in MaXXXine itself), but the answer could lie in the fact that this client could be Maxine’s father, the ruthless televangelist. So, Maxine’s sexual liberation is likely a result of growing up in a deeply religious household. From what we see, the potential meeting of these two characters could be quite terrifying. However, one of the links we are most looking forward to seeing resolved is the mirror between the characters of Maxine and Pearl.
As we know from X, elderly Pearl watches televised sermons preached by Maxine’s father, which explicitly connects the two characters. While Maxine has grand ambitions to be loved, Pearl seeks adoration on a more intimate level. Their basic desires, however, are the same: Maxine longs for something she may never get, evoking Pearl’s attempts to win the affections of the young porn film crew and her reluctant husband. Pearl mourns her lost youth and attractiveness, and Maxine displays an unspoken fear that the same will happen to her. So it makes sense that Goth plays both Maxine and Pearl, as the two characters are reflections of one another. Pearl is obsessed with a version of her younger self and tries to become Maxine, eventually getting into bed with her. Goth plays both roles, underscoring how each of them is grappling with herself. Goth’s variations in these scenes help define Pearl’s frustrations with emulating a life she once had, and we hope MaXXXine brings this full circle between them – the duality of the roles tells us that Maxine, by killing Pearl in X, is rejecting a life she doesn’t want for herself. However, the ending of X shows Maxine still running from a life of repression and her future left wide open, setting audiences up for MaXXXine. We can’t wait to see it.
This trilogy presents two stories (starring the same actress) that connect at several points. Both Pearl and Maxine want to be big stars in a world that constantly tells them they will never achieve it. For both characters, the religious prejudices of their parents chain them, however, Maxine does manage to escape from them, while Pearl remains in the same place, harboring resentments and frustrations that lead her to commit the series of murders that we see in the film she stars in and also in X. Maxine is the one responsible for Pearl’s death, but she is also the one who ends up fulfilling the dreams of the southern girl who longed for a life in the spotlight. In an interview with Collider, West admitted that the idea of having Mia Goth play both of them was born, precisely, from their similarities: “They are different characters, but the same person”.
Pearl and Maxine are connected by their dreams and the barriers standing in the way of achieving them, but one is more ambitious than the other. “She made the decision to go after her dreams and nothing and no one will stop her from having the life she wants,” Mia Goth said of her character.
Where to Watch the X, Pearl, and MaXXXine Trilogy?
The Trilogy is Available on Various platforms:
- Pearl: Available in Max.
- X: Available on Apple TV for an additional cost.
- MaXXXine: For now, you can only see it in theaters.
