Heavy drama

Rating: 8/10 (7 April 2004)

A gripping, gruelling, story of a highway prostitute who becomes a serial killer and one of the most powerful films of the year. The performance by the heavily transformed (normally gorgeous) Charlize Theron into the rather scary overweight Aileen is an all-time great. Christina Ricci also adds notches to her promising career, this time as a convincing teenage lesbian, enthralled by the older woman, and deeply in love until she realises she's run off with a mentally unbalanced murderer. Theron's character is based on a true life story (the subject of two separate film documentaries) - perhaps the emotional power lies in the sympathy the audience feels for her for quite a long time - a sort of, "if only something good could happen once in her miserable life, just one ray of light, surely she deserves a chance . ..". Be warned, it contains very disturbing scenes, including extreme sexual violence. It's a pretty depressing tale, convincingly seen from the point of view of someone who's life has little or no hope.