Mad Men may be over, but Emmy nominee Elisabeth Moss will be perfectly fine, even if she just works with Alex Ross Perry for the rest of her career. She earned rave reviews for her role in Listen Up Philip last year, and the same has been happening for what many call a fearless performance in his psychological thriller, Queen of Earth. Co-starring Inherent Vice's Katherine Waterston, the film centers on two lifelong friends whose relationship crumbles when one's sanity erodes.
It's a new direction for Perry, although the acidic tone he took with Listen Up Philip seems to have been training for the psychotic character he has Moss play here. The film also stars Patrick Fugit and Kate Lynn Sheil, and here's the official synopsis:
Catherine has entered a particularly dark period in her life: her father, a famous artist whose affairs she managed, has recently died, and on the heels of his death she's dumped by her boyfriend James. Looking to recuperate, Catherine heads out to her best friend Virginia's lake house for some much needed relaxation. However, once Catherine arrives relaxation proves impossible to find, as she is overcome with memories of time spent at the same house with James the year before. As Catherine reaches out to Virginia with attempts at connection, Virginia begins spending increasing amounts of time with a local love interest, Rich, and fissures in the relationship between the two women begin to appear, sending Catherine into a downward spiral of delusion and madness. A bracing, eerie look at the deep bonds of friendship and the horrific effects of such bonds being frayed, “Queen of Earth” is a thrilling examination of a deeply complex relationship between two miserable women.
Queen of Earth opens in limited release on August 26th.
