Monster

Charlize Theron deservedly won numerous awards (including an ‘Oscar’ and a ‘Golden Globe’) for her bold portrayal of notorious real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in the 2003 bio-crime drama MONSTER. The film, which also stars Christina Ricci, is as shocking as Theron’s visual transformation for her role, including dentures, special make-up which makes her skin look neglected, bleached eyebrows and of course, piling on the pounds.

The real Aileen Wuornos, at the time of her arrest working as a street prostitute, was executed by lethal injection on October 2nd, 2002 in Florida State Prison for having killed and robbed seven of her male clients. How it came to this is told in MONSTER though Wuornos’ extremely harrowing childhood, including her schizophrenic father whom she never knew and who committed suicide in prison after having received a life sentence for the rape of a 7-year old girl, are just some of the aspects which may her the person she became. Legally adopted by her maternal grandparents (both of whom were alcoholics) and sexually abused by her grandfather, it’s no wonder that Wuornos already indulged in sexual activities during her school days in exchange for drugs, food and cigarettes. Did I mention incest with her brother and her psychopathic outbursts? At the tender age of 15, she was already supporting herself through prostitution and over the years, repeated arrests for various offences, including armed robbery, theft, assault and illegal possession of guns, were added to her steadily increasing criminal record.
Having left her native Michigan for Florida years ago, she met the six years younger motel maid Tyria Moore in ‘Zodiac’ - a Daytona Beach gay bar and gradually, they became lovers, with Wuornos, who was previously married to a man, later stating that Tyria was the love of her life.

This was roughly the point in Aileen Wuornos’ life where the film MONSTER starts, at the tail end of the 1980s and with Aileen (Charlize Theron) a physical and a mental wreck. Thirsty, angry and disillusioned about how her life has turned out (in parts brought on by herself), her only friend Thomas (Bruce Dern) tries to console her and offers her a sandwich. Later that evening, she enters a gay bar (although at that point in her life, she isn’t gay), presumably to get away from a place where men linger about. Although the barman initially gives her a hard time as she looks rough and untrustworthy, she ends up getting served after displaying some dollar notes. Minutes later, a young and timid woman named Selby Wall (Christina Ricci) approaches her and attempts to strike up a conversation, with Aileen immediately losing her temper and shouting that she is not a lesbian and she doesn’t need someone to buy her a drink. Pointing out that she only wanted to talk to someone as no one else in the bar does, Aileen changes her tune and the two women get drunk together before the barman kicks them out. With nowhere to go, Selby invites Aileen to stay in her room, pointing out that this is not her parent’s house but belongs to her aunt Donna (Annie Corely) and her husband. Selby stays in her aunt’s house after her own parents threw her out after an incident with another girl. The following days, Selby invites Aileen along to a roller disco where they eventually kiss and fall for each other. Realising that she cannot remain in her aunt’s house and continue to see Aileen, Selby (modelled on Wuornos’ real-life lover Tyria Moore) packs her suitcase and follows Aileen. Bad move!

Taking up residence in a ramshackle pad which looks like a cheap motel room, initially the two women seem happy in each others company, with chain-smoking and beer-swilling Aileen being the dominant one while dim-witted Selby, with her rather sheepish behaviour, clearly is too besotted to weigh up the pros and cons of her actions. When one client, Vincent Corey (Lee Tergesen), drives off the highway for some sex in a lone stretch hidden by trees and bushes, he displays his true colours and beats and sodomizes her with an instrument. Semi-conscious and seething with rage, Aileen shoots him numerous times and drives off with his car. After this incident, Aileen vows to quit her sordid life and mouthing off that she’s going to go straight and get herself some decent job, including a job as a vet (Selby: “Don’t you need to study to become a doctor for this?”). Alas, every potential interview Aileen goes to (if she gets an interview to begin with) ends in disaster on grounds that not only does she not have the right qualifications but in fact she has no qualifications. Things are not helped by the fact that her foul-mouthed outbursts do nothing to increase her chances of employment. Soon, she’s back again working as a street prostitute. It doesn’t take long before the next male client meets a brutal end at the hands of Aileen, whose hatred of men is by now so deep that she thinks nothing of emptying a round of bullets into her clients bodies and robbing them of their wallets. When Selby, increasingly alarmed but still too naïve and too dim-witted to do something about it, confronts her lover about the killings, Aileen replies matter of factly that the money they need to eat and pay the bills has to come from somewhere…. With Aileen’s psychotic behaviour increasingly getting out of hand, Selby finally wakes up and makes a decision that will seal her lover’s fate…

Despite a bravura performance by Theron, this is not an easy film to watch just as it’s not easy to cough up sympathy for her character, Aileen Wuornos or indeed, the real Aileen. True, the woman had a sordid life and traumatic childhood and adolescence, which no doubt shaped her personality – still, that’s no excuse for killing seven people. Theron excels in bringing the whole range of rage and emotions across in a devastatingly realistic way – from her body language to her facial expressions, every nuance feels real and not acted. Director Patty Jenkins (it was her directorial debut) has done an ace job and the same can be said for the make-up department (which also received numerous nominations).

MONSTER is now available on Blu-ray and Special Features include audio commentaries, interviews, original trailer and various other related features.