The Monologue
Remember how much you hated those dry and archaic monologues your grade school teacher made you tear down to its core? Powerful as they were, it’s especially hard to be receptive to them through text. Well, it turns out they’re not all like that.
Film comes in to paint them in a different light. The visual components, from the body language of an actor to the set design, have the power to make or break a monologue.
Pearl
*For a complete Ti West’s Pearl breakdown, check out inconceivablerz‘s full review!*
The follow-up to 2022’s slasher X has been at the center of the horror scene since its release. In an age where prequels have become sequels, this film is all Mia Goth. Goth reprises her role as the titular Pearl in a much younger state of life because, yes, this is her origin story.
For the sake of conserving space on the web and avoiding content repetition, I urge you to check out the aforementioned review. You know you want to.
Pearl’s monologue
*Spoilers ahead*
We’ll be skipping to the near end of the film.
The killings have been done, and Pearl’s ever-descending spiral into madness is in full throttle. It’s hard to find justification. Can you find empathy, perhaps? That’s at the heart of the near ten-minute monologue.
“I hate you so much for leaving me here, sometimes I hope you die,” calls out Pearl. Eye’s not looking at the viewer but past them. She calls out to her husband sent off to war.
The self-loathing and lamentation run amok. Maybe Pearl does have a sense of morality. She knows she is not a good person. She is a character who recognizes she is constantly breaking beyond repair. But is she still capable of love? Is it love? Or is it validation? Can you blame her for not knowing the difference?
The audience is aware that her sister-in-law is just on the other side of the table. But the audience is not static. They are an active audience with a certain degree of autonomy that is directly being spoken to.
A film is a place where everything has an intention. That does not exclude the camera work. Through this low to high-angle close-up, the audience is sitting right next to Pearl on the dining room table. The choice to empathize or not is a choice in the end.
The smile
Viewers are in for one final treat. The monologue, memorable as it may become, is not the end of the film because there’s always time for one last killing. Sorry, Mitsy.
As it so turns out, Pearl’s husband returns from the war in the film’s final scene. But, to his shock, his father and mother-in-law rot away at the dinner table.
Pearl, gone beyond recognition, welcomes him home with a smile full of anything but happiness. In the reflection of her dirt-colored eyes remain only pain and delusion. The credits roll, but Mia Goth does not relent with her smile.
Other memorable monologues you might remember
Robin Williams, Dead Poets Society (1989)
“But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen. You hear it?”
Few monologues have resonated with multiple generations of students in the haziness of adolescence. So you can see why your high-school English teacher probably spotlighted this film.
To his credit, Williams’ Mr. Keating is able to instill a burning passion in the hearts of his students. The “hormone-filled” teenagers are indifferent to his methodology at this point in the film. However, through a metaphorical callback to the students who came before them, the students can see the joy Mr. Keating receives from teaching. Passion is contagious, after all.
Meryl Streep, Devil Wears Prada (2006)
“… In fact, you’re wearing the sweater selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of ‘stuff’.”
Think there’s no method to a fashion designer’s madness? Then, you might receive a lecture by Meryl Streep in the same manner that Anne Hathaway did. As if the first wasn’t epic enough.
All it took was a snicker from Andy (Hathaway) for Anna Wintour (Streep) to get the ball rolling. In this model monologue, Wintour delivers a powerful message behind all the subconscious factors playing into a consumer’s action, or lack thereof. As Wintour argues, fashion designers can subtly guide the consumer in an intended direction.
Streep is not condescending in her response and tonality to Hathaway’s character, but she can powerfully get her message across. For Wintour, it goes beyond “just another” article of clothing. Every piece of fashion has a story, but it takes a conscious decision to want to learn the history.
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight (2008)
“So I had a wife. Beautiful, like you. Who tells me, I worry too much. Who tells me I oughta smile more.”
Heath Ledger had a pair of monologues in The Dark Knight. And they’re both interlinked. The first delivers the “Why so serious?” line. The second monologue expands on the murky origins of his signature scarred smile. What is the truth? Did his wife coerce him into taking a blade to his mouth? Or maybe it really was his father? Ironically, the Joker holds a knife to Rachel’s (Maggie Gyllenhaal) cheek throughout this delivery. Add in the body language and the tongue-licking. You’ve got the components for a stellar monologue. You can see how this performance earned Ledger a posthumous Oscar award.
Two additional tools aid Heath Ledger in this speech. The first is a rotating camera that heightens the tension adding a glimpse of sincerity and vulnerability. The second component is the music score, that never seems to stop throughout the whole film. However, its elevation here is on another level.
Taraji P. Henson, Hidden Figures (2016)
“And I work like a dog day and night, living on coffee from a pot none of you want to touch! So excuse me if I have to go to the restroom a few times a day.”
The payoff of this scene is unreal. But, it’s the climax that the audience has been waiting for, and for a good reason too. How long can one last in the segregated conditions Katherine (Henson) faced up until this point in the film?
After being pressed on her long absence from her station, Katherine musters the courage to unload on her boss. Having bitten her tongue long enough, it’s the golden opportunity to respectfully lash out. It’s the slow build-up here that adds weight. Taraji’s character is initially appalled that her boss is oblivious to the working conditions. It’s time for Kathrine to speak and for her colleagues to listen.
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network (2010)
“Sorry! My Prada’s at the cleaners! Along with my hoodie and my ‘f**k you’ flip-flops, you pretentious douchebag!”
Here is a movie that most would agree was initially viewed in a different light. Maybe it was the allegations of invasions of privacy that led some viewers to give it another watch.
A film full of dry humor, witty dialogue, and powerful character interactions is deserving of a clash of characters. For The Social Network, the confrontation comes in the last third of the picture. The film also took a huge risk in giving the cathartic monologue to a supporting character, but it’s worthy of praise. Anyone who has been stabbed in the back can relate.
It’s those pent-up emotions that Andrew Garfield is able to elicit from the viewers watching. Through his line delivery and fluctuating pace of speech, Garfield shows rage. But, it’s not just any “screaming” rage. It’s a rage that conveys hurt and disgust. Like The Dark Knight, the score also heightens the emotions.
Rutger Hauer, Blade Runner (1982)
“All those… moments will be lost… in time… like… tears… in the rain.”
A prime example of less sometimes being more. Understanding the concept that goes into script writing goes a long way here. It’s the writers that pour their poetic soul into words that are then regurgitated by the actors. Sometimes it can be a bit much. Director Ridley Scott understood that.
For that reason, he gave Rutger the creative freedom to feel the character of Roy. The singular line of tears in the rain was truly the cherry on top. The monologue is not dragged out and filled with words where one wonders how much time has passed on screen. Roy has some sense of humanity in his code. Or at least he feels it. You can argue that Rutger feels Roy. Even if that line was the only improvisation done by Rutger, would any other line resonate the same with the audience?
The examples are endless. Some might hit the mark more than others, but the intention of the director and actor is still worthy of recognition. Are there any monologues not mentioned that speak to you as an individual?
