This 2003 movie, written and directed by Patty Jenkins, is based on the story of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer in the 1980s. This well-crafted and well-acted film successfully walks a delicate line, allowing the viewer to sympathize with Wuornos yet feel justifiable horror as she kills a string of johns. A chilling and compelling story.
Wuornos is portrayed by an unrecognizable Charlize Theron, who gained thirty pounds and was elaborately disguised with make-up, contact lenses, and dentures for the role. Theron seems at times as if she's channeling Wuornos; her ability to embody the troubled woman is uncanny. As her character reveals in the movie, Wuornos had a very difficult childhood, raped at a very young age, beaten by her parents, and selling sex for money while still a teen. As an adult, she survived by her wits, turning tricks for money to buy beer and cigarettes, stashing her few possessions in a u-store locker, washing in gas station toilets.
One day Wuornos meets a young lesbian, Selby (Christina Ricci), at a bar; they agree to meet the next day. But Wuornos' last trick of that day becomes a nightmare: he beats and rapes her, burning her with acid. In pain, fear, and rage she frees herself from the ropes he has bound her with and shoots him. And so her life is changed forever.
Wuornos seeks out Selby, who had thought herself stood up, and the two run away together. Their relationship is totally believable - the tough Wuornos, filled with bravado, quick to lash out in anger, yet desperate for love, is ranged against naive Selby, vulnerable, manipulative, fascinated by the hooking, disgusted by the killing. Wuornos' attempts to get a regular job is heart-breaking: with no education, no work history, and no training, her chances of "going straight" are infinitesimal, and she soon turns back to the only life she knows, pushed by the passive-aggressive Selby.
Also painfully believable are the times when Wuornos dehumanizes the johns, working herself up to kill. Occasionally they pull her back from the brink, but not often enough: during nine months covered by the movie she kills a number of men, taking their money and cars. When the women realize that the police know who they are, Wuornos puts Selby on a bus back home, and is soon arrested. Wuornos argued in court that all the murders were done in self-defense, but was convicted of murder, spent twelve years on death row, and was executed in 2002.
Theron won an Oscar for her brilliant portrayal of Wuornos. Ricci is also great here, and Jenkins' spare script and excellent direction are also worthy of mention.
If you do watch this movie, also see the documentary "Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer" by Nick Broomfield. It gives more detail about Wuornos' life and includes interviews with her in prison, where she seems unhinged by her years in captivity and ready to die. Both highly recommended.