Product Description

Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci Both shocking and deeply moving, Charlize Theron gives a blistering, multi-award winning performance as Aileen Wuornos - America's first female serial killer - in a film that burrows deep beneath the tabloid-sized headline stories to the abusive neglect, doomed romance and lost opportunities that plagued Aileen's life. Nearing suicidal despair, fate brings her together with kindred spirit Selby, a young woman throwing off the shackles of her oppressive upbringing. Desperate to keep their relationship alive, Aileen maintains her only means of income - a disastrous lifestyle of prostitution. Fuelled by an escalating fury, Aileen's life spirals into tragic circumstances, prompting a string of ill-fated killings, which leads America's media to designate their first female serial killer a true monster. ***** "powerful... staggering" - GQ "Theron gives this year's most impressive performance" - Harpers & Queen "Compelling" - Evening Standard "Astounding" - Esquire "Incredible" - Film Review "Theron's [is a] powerful, physically astonishing performance..." - Variety

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3802 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-10-10
• Rating: Suitable for 18 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Colour, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Synopsis
Charlize Theron delivers a knockout, cast-against-type performance in this gritty drama, based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, a down and out prostitute who was sentenced to death after killing six men between 1989 and 1990. Christina Ricci co-stars as Selby Wall, a lesbian runaway who forms a romantic bond with Wuornos. Inspired by her love (even though she is not gay, strictly speaking) Wuornos tries to get a real job, but after meeting with a string of humiliating failures, she returns to work as a hitchhiking hooker, killing her first victim in self-defence after he rapes and beats her. Eventually, robbing and murdering her clients becomes almost second nature and by the end Wuornos even slays a man who was totally innocent (Scott Wilson). Theron's portrayal of this dangerous yet sympathetic character ranks with some of the greatest performances in cinema. Under heavy makeup, extra weight, and a snarling countenance, she proves herself a fearless, formidable talent, completely unrecognisable from the glamorous beauty of such films as THE ITALIAN JOB (2003) and THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE (1997). First-time director Jenkins proves herself with this fluid and engrossing work, capturing a lot of sordid detail that other movies exploring this milieu might miss; she also wrote the script, based on actual conversations and prison letters from Wuornos. The moody, paranoia-enhancing soundtrack is by electronica maestro BT.

Customer Reviews

Shows American justice for what it is
Superbly acted film in which Charlize Theron plays Aileen Wuornos, a woman who was executed for avenging some rapists, cheats and child molestors.

For doing society a favour, Wuornos was sentenced to death by electric chair.

a waste of a great performance
Great performance by Theron, but what's the point of a film based on a serial killer's defence?

A Thoroughly Brilliant Serial Killer Biopic
The story of infamous female serial killer Aileen Wournos is a disturbing and shocking one. Far from being an unmotivated sociopath, Wuornos was convincted for murdering several men--she claimed seven--whom she acussed of either raping her or attempting to while she worked as a prostitute. Up until this point her life hadn't been the most picturesque one, with physical, verbal and sexual abuse dominating many periods of her life. She claimed to have been abused by carers, lost her virginity to her own brother, been attacked by clients, used by police officers and pretty much frequently kicked down by society. As is par the course, her conviction came with labels of 'evil' and 'monstrous', something that might well describe the actions she took but that perhaps doesn't necessarily apply to Wuornos as a person. Whatever the case, she achieved notoriety long before her eventual execution and was unashamedly exploited by family members, journalists, prison officers, cops and a number of others. "Monster" may be an example of this, but that doesn't make the Wuornos biopic any less fantastic. Without doubt, this is one of the best serial killer films around.

It is fair to say that "Monster" does it's small share of glossing over with regards to Wuornos' (played by Charlize Theron) horrific story, but for the most part it is as truthful and honest a motion picture ever likely to be made about the serial killer. Directed by Patty Jenkins, "Monster" picks up on Wuornos' story from the moment she met her lesbian girlfriend, 18-year-old Selby Wall (Christina Ricci). A prostitute since her early teens, Aileen meets, in Selby, another fractured woman in her younger partner--Aileen herself is in her thirties when she meets Selby--, who herself is only just coming to terms with her own sexuality, and whose father has effectively shunned her upon coming out of the closet. Aileen has never had someone who truly cared about her before Selby comes along and so clings to her newfound romantic relationship, seeing it as a sign for better things to come. However, more dissapointments lie ahead for Aileen even as her relationship with Selby flourishes, as she comes face-to-face with the fact that one positive doens't equal forthcoming negatives. Eventually she finds herself shooting to death a man when he tries to tie her up and rape her. It is this first killing that tips Aileen over the edge and results in more murders as she struggles to control the urge to get what she sees as revenge against men more than happy to use her for their own sexual gratification.

Writer-director Patty Jenkins has created with "Monster" a staggering and powerful cinematic portrait that surpasses the vast majority of films of it's ilk with an unlikely ease. Whereas other, less assured, filmmakers might have tended towards painting Wuornos as a more cold-hearted individual, Jenkins does a more professional and capable job, caring to look under the notorious killer's tough exterior to the fragile, emotionally shattered person underneath. In no way does Jenkins make her subject out to be a sympathetic person, because Wuornos wasn't. However, Jenkins takes the time to establish what might have pushed Wurnos into the act of murdering multiple clients, convincingly portraying the dysfunctional-but-loving relationship between Wuornos and Wall in the meantime. Her script is poignant and graphic, her direction equally flawless.

In a stunning performance that rightfully brought home an Academy Award for Best Actress, Charlize Theron is an emotional, believable force as Aileen Wuornos. Under false freckles and with a gained weight of thirty pounds for the role, Theron is sensational in every second that she is featured on the screen, which amounts to around 98% of the entire film. Taking on the hugely important supporting role of Selby Wall, Christina Ricci is on a par with Theron, equally layered and transcendent in her difficult part. Ricci captures the naivety and honesty in her smitten character, who continues to allow Aileen to murder men without stepping in or alerting the authorities, out of love for her murderess girlfriend. Beyond Theron and Ricci's the parts and performances are minimal, but so perfect are the two lead actresses that this isn't a problem whatsoever. The one-dimensional supporting turns are all done handily, but the film undoubtedly belongs to Theron and Ricci.

As believable a romantic motion picture that "Monster" is whenever focus is on the partnership between Aileen and Selby, the movie is also a graphically violent thriller whenever attention shifts back on to the crimes Aileen commits. If the movie quickly establishes elements of Aileen's horrible past life, it doesn't neglect to be visceral and shocking whenever she sets sights upon her next victim. The murders themselves are showed in graphic, uncompromising light, and are fittingly bloody for the gritty crime/drama in which they are featured. Squeamish viewers may not fully appreciate such bloodiness, but for anyone capable of stomaching such violence in their cinematic viewing experiences, they blend into proceedings and bring further authenticity to Jenkins factual account. A scene in which she kills a man genuinely trying to help her out is genuinely unsettling in a way that some of the others aren't. Simply put, one finds it somewhat difficult to fully feel sorrow for someone surprised by a bullet when attempting to rape another human being.

"Monster" is harrowing and impactful, raw and unsettling, scary and horrific. If Nick Broomfield's dishonest and exploitative "Aileen: Portrait of a Serial Killer" didn't float your boat, Patty Jenkins' staggering motion picture certainly will. Sure, it doesn't go into extreme detail in some aspects of Wuornos' case, but thid doesn't at all subtract anything from the overall quality of the perfect film in question. In many ways "Monster" is a supreme motion picture, and perhaps qualifies as the best example of brilliant cinema to be found in 2004 or in the present day. "Monster" is an unsettling and strengthy thriller that deserves to be watched.