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Aileen Wournos was a woman who wasn’t born with such a road laid before her. As a matter of fact, she was a born into a household that held an abusive father who would beat her before he would believe a single word that she said. Raped by her father’s best friend repeatedly throughout her life, her perception was blurred at a young age. She desperately wanted to be a Hollywood celebrity, a model, a beauty queen, but that wasn’t in the cards for Aileen. The hand life dealt her was one of prostitution, alcoholism and murder. She didn’t have to make those choices, but ultimately, she did. Her life is detailed in the film Monster, starring Charlize Theron as Aileen.
The story begins with Aileen meeting a young lesbian woman named Selby (Christina Ricci) in a bar that she stumbles into for a beer. They become fast friends and though Aileen doesn’t believe that she is gay, she quickly becomes attracted to the pixie-like Selby. They soon begin a relationship, though the fact that Selby is a lesbian doesn’t sit well with Selby’s Bible thumping family.
They vow to meet up one evening and rent a motel room, but to rent said room Aileen has to come up with some money. Already a highway prostitute, she prepares to turn a trick to get the money. The john brutally rapes Aileen out in the middle of the woods. For protection purposes, Aileen has a gun in her purse. She unloads all six shots into his chest and suddenly she’s a fugitive.
What little money that Aileen has is not enough to support herself and her newfound love. She decides to quit prostitution altogether and go straight, but that leads to a dead end of humiliation and cruelty. All Aileen ever wanted in life was someone to love her and now she has her, and she’s bound and determined to keep her forever. Therefore, she returns to hooking.
However, things take a turn for the worst in Aileen’s psyche. While on the job, she begins to kill her johns and takes their money and vehicles, believing them all to be the rapists that she’s known throughout her life, thus becoming a serial killer. Aileen’s road of life continues to get rockier and it’s only a matter of time before it ends.
Monster is simply a fantastic, spellbinding movie. For my money, it rivals only Mystic River as the best film of the year. It’s a shame that it didn’t receive the notice and the recognition that River has received because I believe it to be just as amazing. Charlize Theron scored the role of a lifetime and she devoured every bit of it. I believe this to be the best role in the last ten years for a female lead. Honestly, I don’t remember the last time a woman has played a role this powerful. Even most men don’t get a role like this. She is not the Theron that we know from other films. Honestly, I thought she was a mediocre-at-best actress who could cry on cue (in every film!), but my opinion of her has changed drastically.
Gone is the beautiful, leggy blonde of the past. Here is a different blueprint. It was reported that she gained about 30 pounds and had latex applied to her face to give her the homely look. She’s freckled, she has jowls and an overbite with crooked teeth. She stands differently. She talks differently. She walks differently. She is simply amazing in this role.
She is utterly brilliant as the woman who is a villain, but honestly feels she’s not doing anything wrong. She feels justified. I wonder if she could ever top her performance in this and I am excited to see if she can. If she doesn’t take home the Oscar this year, then the awards are fixed. That’s all there is to it.
Christian Ricci was also very good. She deserves more recognition for her role as the hopelessly devoted lover to Aileen. She knows deep down that what Aileen is doing is wrong, but she also knows that if she doesn't do it, they will not survive and they will not be together. While Aileen murders to keep Selby, Selby lets her so they can be together. It’s a bizarre way of life, and Ricci plays it like she’s living it. Excellent work.
I began to worry that the film was going in the wrong direction about halfway into it. It appeared as if the director and writer, Patty Jenkins, was making Aileen out to be a sympathetic figure. It’s hard to feel sympathetic towards a serial killing prostitute, though for a moment I did. I felt sympathy towards her for her upbringing, but didn’t for her choice of careers. I felt sympathy for her when she was being brutally raped and was behind her 100% when she blew the bastard away, but I lost that sympathy when she continued to kill. I felt sympathy for her when she was getting shot down in job interviews, though the jobs she was after were jobs that she most definitely wasn’t qualified for. I lost that sympathy when she gave up and went back to hooking. There was finally a scene where you could not possibly feel sympathy for her any longer and that’s where the story came full circle. It’s wonderfully executed. Amazingly, this is Jenkins’ first film and she pulls it off like a seasoned veteran. She deserves a nomination as well.
It’s a travesty that this film is not being talked about like Mystic River. It’s a bigger travesty that Seabiscuit is nominated for Best Picture and this is not. This is one of the best films of the year, bar none.
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