Few performances in cinema history have been as captivating as Charlize Theron’s portrayal of real-life serial killer Aileen Wuornos in Monster. The 2003 Patty Jenkins-directed film earned Theron her first Oscar for a raw and unflinching exploration of Wuornos’s life that film critic Roger Ebert described as “the best performance of the year in the best movie of the year.” It is a performance in which Theron fully embodies Wuornos, who killed seven men in a span of one year. Theron transformed herself both physically and psychologically in a way that captures Wuornos’s haunted mannerisms with unnerving precision. She dives deep into Wuornos’s psyche, blending the monstrous with the profoundly human, elevating a story that could easily have been one-dimensional. While Monster doesn’t shy away from the gritty and uncomfortable realities of the ruthless killer that Wuornos was, it also covers the troubled, tragic individual shaped by abuse and desperation.
Writer-director Patty Jenkins is at her best, conducting impeccable research for the movie in a journey that included correspondence with the serial killer herself and disagreeing with the film’s financiers over artistic choices. Jenkins lets her visuals offer an unflinching approach to the brutality of the story without offering excuses for them while making audiences see the reasons for Wuornos’ descent into darkness. Monster is a story that has everything about a tormented mind driven into chaos: there’s obsessive love, childhood abuse, assault, and chilling murders.
Charlize Theron Wildly Transformed Into Aileen Wuornos
If one didn’t know beforehand that Charlize Theron was the star of Monster, they would most probably fail to recognize her in the film.She transforms from the glamorous image that she is known for into an inelegant figure with gained weight, bleached eyebrows, and donning prosthetic teeth to embody Aileen. Complementing these physical attributes, Theron’s performance reveals a profound psychological depth that explores Aileen’s troubled psychewith haunting authenticity. She went to the extent of working with a dialect coach to perfect Aileen’s unique speech patterns, allowing her to present the killer’s erratic yet deeply vulnerable disposition.
The plot focuses on the year Wuornos committed her heinous crimes but also touches on her tragic past that included an abusive childhood with brutal rapes and assaults from trusted individuals that should have protected her, as well as the wild men she encountered during her commercial sex work. Through her depiction, we not only see the monstrous acts that Aileen commits but also the tragic human she became,having been molded into cruelty by circumstances.
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Theron’s Aileen is a highly conflicted character whose attempts at doing good inevitably make her fall deeper into a horrid descent. The film opens with Aileen as she contemplates how she is going to wisely use the only money she has — a five-dollar bill, without which she swears she’ll commit suicide. Theron’s Aileen stares into the souls of those she meets, whether it is her victims or her lesbian lover, Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), in a facial portrayal that says almost everything about her. She is a lover-provider who wants to do everything to make her relationship work with an aura of some semblance of normalcy that life itself has never offered her, but her ignorance about this unfamiliar self-reliance sabotages her efforts. It is a complex role that Theron’s portrayal gracefully does justice to.
Patty Jenkins’ Unflinching Direction Adds Depth and Empathy to a Dark Story
Patty Jenkins brings an unflinching and understated eye to Monster by opting for a distinct realism that avoids sensationalizing Wuornos’s life. Jenkins has talked about how her research for the film, including correspondence with Wuornos through letters, helped her get clarifications on important aspects of Wuornos’s story. The film takes the approach of an intimate narrative style that places audiences in Wuornos’s chaotic world. Jenkins offers audiences a front seat into the toxic relationship between Aileen and Selby and how love, desperation, and a harsh past resulted in Wuornos’s rage about her existence rather than inherent cruelty.
Two decades since its release, Monster remains a powerful and haunting examination of the human psyche.Theron’s and Jenkins’ combined efforts transformed a crime thriller into an emotional journey that defies the typical boundaries of the genre, earning it a place as one of the most profound serial killer films in modern cinema. In an industry where serial killer narratives often fall into formulaic patterns, Monster is unlike any other, with its truthful and nuanced approach elevating its story and providing a hauntingly human perspective in a genre that often shuns it.
Monster is available for rent on Amazon Prime in the U.S.
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