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By Hannah Drennan
Director: Alex Ross Perry
London Film Festival review
Catherine, the neurotic daughter of a celebrated artist, is nursing a break-up from her cheating boyfriend and the recent death of her beloved father. Joining her best friend Ginny at the latter’s luxury lake house, a week’s repose surrounded by trees and languid waters seems to be on the cards. “Tranquility isn’t just a myth,” Catherine (Elizabeth Moss) proclaims at some point to Ginny (Katherine Waterstone) as they look out across the lake: well, it’s certainly missing from this psychological thriller about a holiday from hell.
In the latest output from U.S. writer-director Alex Ross Perry, two friends become locked in a fierce but covert psychological battle, culminating in the emotional unravelling of one. Moments spent together on the “holiday”- surprisingly rare – largely consist of feigning concern for one another or exchanging snide and bitter remarks. Abusing that thorough knowledge of another person that comes only with the closest friendships, both women know exactly which of the other’s buttons to press. Both actors are perfectly cast – Elizabeth Moss (Mad Men, Top of the Lake) is terrifying as the hysterical Catherine, and Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice, Boardwalk Empire), despite coming on board a matter of days before shooting, seems born to play the cold and uncompassionate Ginny. It’s hard to explain why we put up with these miserable and resentful characters – and yet they’re strangely compelling.
In his follow-up to subversive indie romcom Listen Up Phillip, Perry borrows copiously from the psychological thriller – particularly early Polanski: extreme close-ups, point-of-view shots and an eerie incessant musical score help to send up the tension. The interior shots are reminiscent of The Shining in the way the two women stalk the lake house casting one another paranoid glances. Like Kubrick’s Jack and Wendy, the pair seem isolated despite residing under the same roof and there is dreadful suggestion of impending death that never goes away. In the same breath, Queen of Earth is also very funny. Though it would be a stretch to call it a comedy, it contains a generous dash of Perry’s own brand of humour – a distinctive blend of sardonic and deadpan.
Queen of Earth is a stylish and thoroughly mesmerizing examination of psychotic breakdown – thriller aficionados should be looking forward to its release with relish. Viewers hoping for a feel-good testament to sisterhood, however, should give Queen a wide berth.
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