Pearl

In 1918, Pearl is a mentally ill young woman living with her German immigrant parents on their homestead in Texas, while her husband, Howard, serves in the First World War. Her father is infirm and paralyzed, and her domineering mother, Ruth, insists that she help care for both him and the farm as they isolate themselves to protect against the Spanish flu Pandemic. Pearl, captivated by the movies she sees, aspires to be a chorus girl or a film star, which Ruth disapproves of, and chafes under the forced isolation. Pearl also shows signs of psychopathy; she kills farm animals and physically abuses her father.