Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Alex Ross Perry
Starring: Elisabeth Moss, Katherine Waterston, Patrick
Fugit
If movies should be believed, the last place on earth you want to spend time is at a house near a lake, no matter how idyllic a location it appears. The dangers are rife; you could be drowned by Gene Tierney (Leave Her to Heaven; worse ways to go I guess), raped and left for dead (I Spit on Your Grave) or driven insane by the paranoia of being hunted down by the cult you recently fled (Martha Marcy May Marlene). If you have some free time coming up, best to spend it in the relative safety of the city.
Through flashbacks, we see snippets of the previous summer, when a healthy and psychologically stable Catherine stayed with a then depressed Virginia, the latter intensely irritated by the presence of Catherine's boyfriend. It becomes apparent that Virginia may be indulging in a petty and cruel vengeance for Catherine's previous lack of sympathy.
Over the past decade, Moss has been choosing some very interesting, if not always entirely successful work, and this is one of her best performances to date. When we first see her here, in an all too intimately framed extreme close-up, she's distraught, engaged in an argument with her boyfriend that neither side appears to be winning. All snot and runny mascara, she resembles a clown hit by a car and left for dead in the rain. Her portrait of depression and neurosis is painted in lipstick and blood on a lover's mirror. We'd give her a hug if we didn't believe she'd stab us in the back.
Queen of Earth is on MUBI UK now.