The movie tries to unpeel the complexities of its characters, but because it doesn’t tell us everything, it leaves most of the unpeeling to us.
For much of Alex Ross Perry’s Queen of Earth, the camera angle is hardly still: it zooms into one character’s face only to twitchily move into another’s and awkwardly peers over the shoulders of actors. This cinematographic technique perhaps reflects the caprices of the movie’s troubled characters themselves, who are seen in fits of laughter one moment and wild weeping the next. Through all of this, an eerie sound leaves viewers evermore on edge.
This 90-minute psychological thriller begins with Catherine (Elizabeth Moss) berating her boyfriend (Kentucker Audley), who is going to leave her for another woman. A blubbering mess, her eyes looking like dark bags because of the ruined make-up, Catherine yells at her boyfriend, who looks surprisingly nonchalant.
We see Catherine next in a retreat with Virginia (Katherine Waterston), who she says is her best friend. But the label of ‘best friend’ belies the deep complexities in their relationship. The two constantly exchange gibes, for example. At one point in a house gathering, Catherine chokes on chips and crawls helplessly into her bedroom, but is helped by nobody, least of all her best friend. But there are also times when there is deep affection, as, for example, when Catherine lovingly draws a portrait of Virginia.
In between are flashes of the earlier relationship between James and Catherine, which seems to be a source of trouble for Virginia. (“Cripplingly codependent,” she calls it.) Now, the tables have turned. Virginia is visited by her boyfriend Rich (Patrick Fugit) all too often, something that Catherine hates. “You pry into the lives of others to conceal how worthless and boring your own life is,” she tells Rich. Rich is also somehow the reason her father killed himself and is the cause of “all depression” in the world. Cups are thrown, and Catherine almost strangles Rich at one point.
Queen of Earth truly tantalises. There is, for example, mention of Catherine’s father, a “prominent artist”, over and over again. It’s obvious that one reason Catherine is so manic may be that she had troubles with her father, though what exactly, we are not told. In another instance, Catherine tells a visitor, “I could kill you right now, and no one would even know” – only viewers know that she is only half-joking. Thus, Queen of Earth troubles its viewers with dangerous questions all along. Will Catherine kill herself? Will she kill somebody?
The movie tries to unpeel the complexities of its characters, but because it doesn’t tell us everything, it leaves most of the unpeeling to us. And viewers readily jump in to do this, thanks to Moss’ most compelling performance and Perry’s commendable directing that make this movie so thoroughly watchable.