When the actor becomes the role

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2009)

Darren Aronofsky's superb drama "The Wrestler" provides Mickey Rourke with the role for which he will undoubtedly be most remembered - that of "Randy 'the Ram' Robinson," a professional wrestler long past his prime, who is attempting to mount a comeback both as a fighter and as a father to the daughter (beautifully played by Rachel Evan Ward) whom he abandoned earlier in life.
Rarely does an actor get the chance to inhabit a role quite as fully as Rourke does here. With his bulging muscles and greasy, long-flowing, bleach-dyed locks, Rourke - who did his own stunts for the film - brings an amazing physicality to the character, making us feel every ache, pain and body blow the man suffers, both inside the arena and out, as he hauls his massive, badly bruised carcass through life. Randy shows that he suffers no illusions about that life, as he confesses to his daughter, "I'm an old broken-down piece of meat, and I'm alone and I deserve to be alone." But there's something about Randy - call it his gentleness of spirit or his self-effacing modesty - that nevertheless wins us over to his side. Indeed, for all his physical imposingness, Randy is a surprisingly tender individual who knows he's screwed up in life and now wants to make amends and rebuild bridges with the one person he cares most about in his life.
This "soft" side of Randy is most evident in his relationship with "Cassidy," a stripper who is herself getting on in years. In fact, Randy and Cassidy are united in the fact that they are both trapped in professions that are less than kind to those who are aging. Even though the role of Cassidy could easily have slipped over into the-stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold territory, the intelligence of the writing and the subtle richness of Marisa Tomei's performance prevent that from happening.
Screenwriter Robert D. Siegel keeps the story spare and simple, not cluttering it up with fancy narrative flourishes or overblown melodramatics. With the wintry coastal New Jersey setting as his backdrop, director Aronofsky lets the drama unfold at a seductively leisurely pace, letting us get to know each of these characters and the rhythm of their lives in finely-drawn, intimate detail. And even though Rourke has elicited richly deserved praise for the physical pounding he endured for the role, it is in the quieter and subtler moments, when we get to see the inner workings of the character he's portraying, that the actor's talent and dedication to the role truly shine through. It is, indeed, a performance for the ages and one that students of acting will be studying and attempting to emulate for decades to come.