The feature debut of writer/director Patty Jenkins, Monster takes us into the horrible intimacy of Aileen Wuornos, dubbed America's first female serial killer. When we meet up with Wuornos it's before she went on the spree that left seven men dead. Homeless and destitute, the victim of abuse as a child, she's reduced to tricking along the speedways of Florida - it's the only way she knows to survive. At wits' end one soggy evening, Aileen, or "Lee," wanders into a gay bar and meets Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), who's been sent to stay with relatives by her father to "cure" her of an unacceptable attraction to women. To Lee, the wide-eyed Selby becomes a kind of life raft, and she clings to her with all her might, taking her away from her family, the two playing house in a series of dingy motels. All is well until the cash runs out and Aileen is forced back onto the side of the highway, her troubles ready to explode.
You wouldn't say that Jenkins makes Wuornos sympathetic exactly. But her film forces us to consider the disaster pile-up of circumstance that lead to Aileen's acts. As Wuornos, her eyes darting and
Last week, before Theron's big win at the Golden Globes, Hour had the opportunity to talk to Jenkins. Though she was audibly excited, it was a moment of relative quiet before the storm.
Hour You must be reeling from all of the attention your film has been receiving.
Patty Jenkins I thought it would have a real small potential viewership - I think we all did. I'd been aiming small all along, so, yes, it's a huge surprise.
Hour How did you come to make a film like this?
Jenkins I had known about Aileen's story from the time it broke and had been really struck by it - there was so much going on there. I couldn't quite believe it; it was very unlike any "serial killer" story.
Hour How do think your film compares to other serial killer movies like, say, Bundy?
Jenkins They're made with a different aim. My movie is the one that makes the less sense. Most of those films are made for a straight-to-video market and there's not a whole lot of complexity about how you feel about their characters. My film doesn't feel like a serial killer film to me; it's a character film.
Hour What about Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer?
Jenkins That's a different case. That was the first film to bring back another way of telling a story about a person like this. You follow a main character you're not complicit with all the way through. The similarity has been noted with my film but in my case it's been cast as some sort of feminist thing because the killer in Monster is a woman. Actually, though, I've just adopted a classic strain of storytelling. It's just that Hollywood has taken a distance from that, making these films where we have to cheer for these soft, lovable characters. But look at Macbeth or even Hamlet. Just because my character is a woman doesn't make the film different from a million stories told in the past.
Hour But the way you've made Monster, you've left yourself open to the criticism that you're somehow apologizing for Wuornos, casting her as the victim.
Jenkins I wanted it open like that. I wanted to tell both sides and then let people decide if I've gone too far. And to the people who think I have [gone too far], I would say they should read about Aileen Wuornos' life. I actually think it might be her life and not our telling of it that's making people uncomfortable.
Hour You got to know Wuornos (who has since been put to death) when you were preparing the film. Was there a point where you went, "Woah, I'm getting too sucked in to her point of view here?"
Jenkins No, I think everything just got amplified. The more I got to know her the more I became sympathetic and, simultaneously, aware of the horror she committed. She knew the horror of what she did. Her attempts to say she was completely innocent were riddled with bouts of guilt and curiosity about the victims' families. It was like walking into the nightmare that was this woman's consciousness.
Hour You must have gone to some very dark places when you were shooting the movie.
Jenkins I was terrified all the time. The minute I stepped into this I was overwhelmed. I mean, Aileen was alive at that point and there was also the issue of these victims' families. That's not a light thing to take on. I was so overwhelmed by fear that I didn't have time to worry about the fact that this was my first big movie - that was irrelevant.
Monster
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