Aronofsky crafts another realistic-yet-surreal nightmare

Rating: 8/10 (25 January 2020)

Darren Aronofsky has a very particular talent for structuring films in which characters seem to be pitted against not only the flaws of their own nature, but the crushing weight of reality itself.
My Score: 8/10.
My analysis of the film below (contains spoilers):
Ageing wrestler Randy "The Ram" Robinson (Mickey Rourke) is still pulling wrestling gigs even in his late middle age. He needs the cash, but he also loves his fans and the wrestling scene and that seems to be his main drive. Physically he looks pretty good for his age, but it's clear that he's unable to take the beatings like he used to, and his physique is maintained with a vast cocktail of illegal drugs and a punishing physical regimen. His personal life is sad, hollow and empty, and he spends his evenings visiting a sleazy strip club. Usually he tries to get a dance from his favourite girl, Cassidy (Marisa Tomei).
Cassidy is in many ways a mirror of Randy. An older stripper, she's stuck in a no-future job where she is essentially a piece of meat for a crowd that's not particularly bothered about her outside of her ability to entertain them. Her story is strong and interesting in it's own right, perhaps the only flaw is the casting of Marisa Tomei.
Not because of her acting - she's a good actress and does well in the part. But she's a gorgeous woman and doesn't really fit the bill for a washed up stripper! I'm sure pretty much any young man in his prime would be happy getting a dance from her, so it's kind of weird to see characters telling her she looks unattractive.
Much like in Requiem For A Dream, the film is about characters who are fundamentally doomed due to their own flaws (or inability to face up to these flaws), coupled with a harsh and brutal world that makes no exceptions for them. In fact, the environment around the characters appears to actively conspire to drive them even further into despair. As strange as it might sound, the two movies feel to me like they're set in the same universe thanks to the similar themes and direction.
What The Wrestler does differently to that film is that it uses an ambiguous ending to poses a question to the viewer about the principle character, rather than giving you a straight answer. Is he a hero? Is he brave? Is he selfless? Or is he stupid and selfish? Is he all of these things?
Randy carries the movie as a complicated and interesting character. Most obviously, he is a man trapped in the past; from his choice of crusty old videogames to his nostalgia for upbeat 80's rock that clashes completely with his downbeat place in this present world.
I would further describe him as a man with a massive heart and a strong sense of pride, but also a naivety and devastating lack of common sense about him. In a way, his flaw is that he loves his fans too much, he loves Cassidy too much, and he doesn't think enough. To quote The Matrix, he uses "every muscle except for the one that counts".
Randy is a great guy in many ways, but he's also, quite frankly, a meathead. In the 80's (which we don't see) presumably this didn't matter; he was able to goof and joke around, spend large amounts of money and be a Good-Times-Guy. When The Wrestler starts, we see this Good-Times-Guy without the good times, and it's harsh and depressing. It's this sort of cheerful but unthinking demeanour that partially lands Randy in such a sad and desperate situation.
In one of Cassidy's first scenes she extols Randy's virtues, comparing his suffering for his fans in the ring to the suffering of Jesus. This is actually an apt comparison, though she makes it in jest.
As I mentioned previously, Aronofsky twists a cruel reality into victimising the characters directly. The "hardcore match" in which Randy is brutally smashed with barbed wire and blunt objects almost feels like a re-run of the disturbing sex party from Requiem, in terms of the amount Randy is physically violated for a baying and desensitised crowd. The frenzied shouts of "USE HIS LEG!" very much reminded me of "FEED ME, SARA!"
Similarly, Randy's boss at his day job is an incredibly obnoxious and unreasonable man. He's everything Randy isn't; cruel, petty, vindictive, lazy and calculating. Even Randy's customers belittle and abuse him, driving him further to the precipice. In fact the world seems so cruel that it starts to break the realism of the film, but as with Requiem, this is used deliberately by Aronofsky to give us a surreal, nightmarish exaggeration of reality. The incredibly bleak and uncompromising world of the movie makes the film more compelling still rather than worse.
On the other hand, Randy also victimises himself when the world isn't doing it for him. His nostalgia and lust to regain his past popularity can be extremely self-destructive and idiotic. His limp attempt to relive his 80's glory days with some casual sex and a snort of cocaine ends with him spectacularly crashing, permanently, out of his daughter's life. Serving as perhaps the most heartbreaking scene of the film, Randy seems powerless to rein himself in from plunging right over the cliff the audience saw coming 20 minutes ago. It's like watching a train wreck.
The ending, however, is perhaps the most interesting climax of his character. Cassidy offers him her love, but Randy refuses to give up his one last big moment in the ring, announcing the world doesn't care about him. Before making his (potentially fatal due to a heart condition) final leap from the ropes, Randy looks for Cassidy and sees she has gone.
Is it her fault for not being there for him? Is that why he leaps? Or is it his fault that she left, given his stubborn and pig-headed fixation on his last match? Was the world against him, or was he against himself?
All in all, a good film that raises many questions about the human spirit. I continue to rate Aronofsky highly, and I recommend this movie.