''Piercing'' is a 2018 American
horror thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
written and directed by
Nicolas Pesce
Nicolas Pesce () is an American filmmaker. He is best known for directing and writing the horror films ''The Eyes of My Mother'' (2016), ''Piercing'' (2018) and ''The Grudge'' (2020).
Life and career
Nicolas Pesce was born, and currently reside ...
, based on the
novel of the same name by
Ryū Murakami
is a Japanese novelist, short story writer, essayist, and filmmaker. His novels explore human nature through themes of disillusionment, drug use, surrealism, murder, and war, set against the dark backdrop of Japan. His best known novels are ''Al ...
. It stars
Christopher Abbott
Christopher Jacob Abbott (born February 1, 1986) is an American actor. Abbott made his feature film debut in ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011). Abbott's other notable films include '' Hello I Must Be Going'' (2012) '' The Sleepwalker'' (2014) ...
,
Mia Wasikowska
Mia Wasikowska ( ; born 25 October 1989) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut on the Australian television drama '' All Saints'' in 2004, followed by her feature film debut in '' Suburban Mayhem'' (2006). She first became known t ...
, and
Laia Costa
Laia Costa Bertrán () (born February 18, 1985) is a Spanish actress who has worked in Spain, Russia, Germany, Argentina, Italy, United Kingdom and the United States.
Life and career
Costa was born in Barcelona, Spain. Costa obtained a degree ...
, and features
Maria Dizzia
Maria Teresa Dizzia (born December 29, 1974) is an American actress. Dizzia was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in ''In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)''.
Early life ...
,
Marin Ireland
Marin Yvonne Ireland is an American actress. Known for her work in theatre and independent films, ''The New York Times'' deemed Ireland "one of the great drama queens of the New York stage". Her accolades include a Theatre World Award and nomina ...
, and
Wendell Pierce
Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles both on the stage and screen. He first gained notoriety portra ...
in supporting roles.
''Piercing'' had its world premiere at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
on January 20, 2018 and was theatrically released on February 1, 2019, by
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
, to generally positive reviews from critics.
Plot
The film opens with Reed (Christopher Abbott), standing over his infant daughter with an ice pick. His wife sleeps across the room unaware. He has an overwhelming desire to stab his daughter with the ice pick, but is able to push the urge down in the moment. Later, while calming the baby, she looks up at him and says, "You know what you have to do, right?". He then decides that he must enact his murderous impulses upon a prostitute, so as to protect his daughter from himself. He has convinced his wife that he is going on a business trip. However, he actually intends to rent a hotel room, hire the services of a sex worker, and go through with his meticulous plot of killing the person with an ice pick, while getting away with the crime.
The title credits open as Reed makes his way to a hotel at the beginning of the night. Once he enters the room, he begins a rehearsal of his plans. He continually wipes fingerprints and times himself in a notebook after forcing unconsciousness by chloroform. However, when the appointed time arrives, Jackie (Mia Wasikowska) has arrived instead of his intended victim. She brings with her a collection of kinky fetish gear and a sadistic impulse. After a bad first encounter, she hides in the bathroom, and Reed nervously awaits. He grows impatient and enters the bathroom after Jackie ignores his calls. Upon entry he sees her repeatedly stabbing herself with a pair of scissors in the leg. He overpowers her and carries her to the bed where she passes out, most likely due to the pills she is seen swallowing earlier. He quickly bandages her and ditches his plans to murder, he grabs his belongings and attempts to leave the hotel, but returns after seeing Jackie leaving the room undressed and bleeding.
Reed decides to dress and transport Jackie to the hospital, but on the taxi ride there, Jackie whispers that she "was onto him", suggesting she knew of his plans to kill her. She asks him to wait for her at the hospital, and he promises he will. While waiting, Reed imagines his wife giving him advice and being a voice of reason, suggesting either Jackie does not know what his true intentions are, and he still may be able to kill her, or that she played coy and is alerting the hospital staff and will get Reed imprisoned. He reasons that she does not know and she returns excited to see him still there.
After establishing that trust, they go to Jackie's apartment. Jackie cordially offers dinner, but Reed is quiet and appears disinterested. Jackie attempts seduction which ultimately leads to them lying in her bed. They continually speak in double meaning, either conveying ideas of sex or murder, yet neither knows which intention the other has. Reed resolves that she wants him to kill her, and he gets up to grab his gear from across the room. Yet Jackie is confused, thinking he wanted sex. As he moves towards her, she again suggests dinner. They eat, and Reed begins to suffer from violent and nightmarish hallucinations of people he's killed, notably his domineering mother who tortures him with a lit cigarette. Jackie explains she spiked his soup with narcotics and he falls into a state of unconsciousness. He moans his wife's name and this infuriates Jackie, leading to her beating him with a can opener. Towards the end, Reed gets the upper hand and Jackie still does not believe he is a killer. She allows him to tie her up, thinking he will finally have sex with her. Yet he pulls out an ice pick and right as he attempts to stab her, he passes out once more. Jackie unties herself and looks through his bags, she finds his notebook and reads the sadistic plans he had intended for her.
When Reed awakes the following morning, he finds himself bound and gagged. Jackie sits at her mirror, and pierces her nipple. Then she climbs on top of him, readying the ice pick. As she raises it, he wails, and she hesitates. She ungags him and they stare at each other. After a beat, Reed asks the same question she did before he attempted to murder her, "Can we eat first?"
Cast
*
Christopher Abbott
Christopher Jacob Abbott (born February 1, 1986) is an American actor. Abbott made his feature film debut in ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011). Abbott's other notable films include '' Hello I Must Be Going'' (2012) '' The Sleepwalker'' (2014) ...
as Reed
*
Mia Wasikowska
Mia Wasikowska ( ; born 25 October 1989) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut on the Australian television drama '' All Saints'' in 2004, followed by her feature film debut in '' Suburban Mayhem'' (2006). She first became known t ...
as Jackie
*
Laia Costa
Laia Costa Bertrán () (born February 18, 1985) is a Spanish actress who has worked in Spain, Russia, Germany, Argentina, Italy, United Kingdom and the United States.
Life and career
Costa was born in Barcelona, Spain. Costa obtained a degree ...
as Mona, Reed's wife
*
Marin Ireland
Marin Yvonne Ireland is an American actress. Known for her work in theatre and independent films, ''The New York Times'' deemed Ireland "one of the great drama queens of the New York stage". Her accolades include a Theatre World Award and nomina ...
as Reed's mother
*
Maria Dizzia
Maria Teresa Dizzia (born December 29, 1974) is an American actress. Dizzia was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in ''In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)''.
Early life ...
as Chevonne
*
Wendell Pierce
Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles both on the stage and screen. He first gained notoriety portra ...
as the doctor
Production
In February 2017, it was announced
Christopher Abbott
Christopher Jacob Abbott (born February 1, 1986) is an American actor. Abbott made his feature film debut in ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011). Abbott's other notable films include '' Hello I Must Be Going'' (2012) '' The Sleepwalker'' (2014) ...
,
Mia Wasikowska
Mia Wasikowska ( ; born 25 October 1989) is an Australian actress. She made her screen debut on the Australian television drama '' All Saints'' in 2004, followed by her feature film debut in '' Suburban Mayhem'' (2006). She first became known t ...
,
Maria Dizzia
Maria Teresa Dizzia (born December 29, 1974) is an American actress. Dizzia was nominated for the 2010 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in ''In the Next Room (or The Vibrator Play)''.
Early life ...
,
Marin Ireland
Marin Yvonne Ireland is an American actress. Known for her work in theatre and independent films, ''The New York Times'' deemed Ireland "one of the great drama queens of the New York stage". Her accolades include a Theatre World Award and nomina ...
and
Wendell Pierce
Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles both on the stage and screen. He first gained notoriety portra ...
had joined the cast of the film, with Nicolas Pesce directing from a screenplay written by himself, based upon the novel of the same name by
Ryū Murakami
is a Japanese novelist, short story writer, essayist, and filmmaker. His novels explore human nature through themes of disillusionment, drug use, surrealism, murder, and war, set against the dark backdrop of Japan. His best known novels are ''Al ...
.
Josh Mond
Josh Mond (born c. 1983) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is known for producing the feature films ''Martha Marcy May Marlene'' (2011) and ''Simon Killer'' (2012), and for writing and directing '' James White'' (2015).
...
,
Antonio Campos, Schuyler Weiss, Jacob Wasserman, will produce the film, while
Sean Durkin
Timothy Sean Durkin (born December 9, 1981) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer. He won the Dramatic Directing Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival for ''Martha Marcy May Marlene''. His short film, ''Mary Last Seen'', on ...
, Max Born, Avi Stern,
Emilie Georges, Naima Abed, Al Di, Phil Hoelting will serve as executive producers under their Boderline Films, Memento Films, Paradise City, YL Pictures banners, respectively. Production concluded that same month.
Release
The film had its world premiere at the
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
on January 20, 2018.
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
acquired distribution rights to the film in May 2018. It was released on February 1, 2019.
Reception
The critical consensus states, "Stylish with a sadistic streak, ''Piercing'' pairs gripping lead performances with a smartly macabre story that delivers unpredictable thrills."
References
External links
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{{Nicolas Pesce
2018 films
2018 horror thriller films
2018 independent films
American horror thriller films
American independent films
BDSM in films
Films about prostitution in the United States
Films based on Japanese novels
Films directed by Nicolas Pesce
Films set in hotels
Films with screenplays by Nicolas Pesce
2010s English-language films
2010s American films