Parents' Guide to

Queen of Earth

By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Unlikable drama about so-called best friends has cursing.

Movie NR 2015 90 minutes
Queen of Earth Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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What's the Story?

In the tearful opening conversation, Catherine (Elisabeth Moss) is angry and resentful as she breaks up with her boyfriend, James (Kentucker Audley), who is leaving her for another woman. Thus we are introduced to one of many extreme close-ups used throughout QUEEN OF EARTH. We are fed backstory explaining that Catherine has also recently lost her father, a famous artist, presumably to suicide. In her depressed state, she joins her old, supposedly best friend, Virginia (Katherine Waterston), at her uncle's lovely lake house for a week to begin to recover. Flashbacks to the summer before show the two at each other's throats in passive-aggressive pretend friendship. Last year Catherine was the happy one and doing a poor job of supporting Virginia through her rough time. This time the sniping continues unabated as they reverse places, with Virginia denigrating the unraveling Catherine.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

This movie is artless and painful to watch, start to finish. The director-writer Alex Ross Perry keeps making terrible choices in editing, tone, and pacing, also demonstrating a worrisome reliance on frequent claustrophobia-inducing extreme close-ups that do nothing to get us inside his despicable and, worse yet, uninteresting characters. Ironically, this unrelenting visual technique repels us further from characters who are already repugnant without any visual aids to emphasize that quality.

The focus on two toxic, judgmental, cruel, insensitive, and delusional characters who nevertheless call each other best friends and claim to "love" each other just exponentially ups the reasons for not spending a minute watching Queen of Earth. Often this feels like an amateurish attempt to mimic the gravity and depth of Ingmar Bergman's masterpieces, just without the gravity or depth.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about why Virginia and Catherine continue to pretend that they're best friends. Does Queen of Earth give any idea of why these two keep insulting each other?

  • What do you think is missing from the movie that might explain why two people who clearly despise each other are hanging out together?

  • Why do you think the filmmaker keeps putting his actors in extreme close-ups? How do they make you feel?

Movie Details

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