A grim, compassionate true-crime drama anchored by Charlize Theron’s extraordinary transformation. It’s most compelling as a character study of trauma, desperation, and self-destruction, though its subject matter and bleakness make it emotionally punishing.
62% ★★★☆☆ (320,966)
Monster
Where to watch: Buy
Movie · Crime · Drama · R
2003 · 1h 49m · ★ 62% (321K)
Based on a true story.
Director: Patty Jenkins
Starring: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern
Overview
In 1989, prostitute Aileen Wuornos befriends and enters a relationship with a young woman named Selby. Determined to straighten out her life, Aileen's limited education lands her back on the corner. She's raped by a trick, who she kills. A string of murder and robbery follows that ultimately leads Aileen to becoming America's first female serial killer.
Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Lee Tergesen, Annie Corley, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Marco St. John, Marc Macaulay, Scott Wilson, Rus Blackwell, Tim Ware, Stephan Jones, Brett Rice, Kaitlin Riley, Cree Ivey, Catherine Mangan, Magdalena Manville, T. Robert Pigott, Romonda Shaver, Glenn R. Wilder
Curator Review
Verdict
A grim, compassionate true-crime drama anchored by Charlize Theron’s extraordinary transformation. It’s most compelling as a character study of trauma, desperation, and self-destruction, though its subject matter and bleakness make it emotionally punishing.
Best for
viewers who want intense performance-driven dramas
fans of true-crime films that resist glamorizing violence
people interested in stories about trauma, sex work, and social marginalization
audiences drawn to tragic queer relationships and doomed romance
Skip if
you want a suspenseful procedural or twisty crime thriller
you’re sensitive to sexual violence and bleak abuse narratives
you prefer cleaner moral framing or more conventional biographical storytelling
you’re looking for an entertaining or cathartic crime movie
Overview
Monster is less interested in the mechanics of murder than in the wreckage that leads there. Patty Jenkins frames Aileen Wuornos as a damaged, volatile woman trying and failing to find safety, dignity, and love, and the film’s power comes from refusing easy distance or easy absolution. It is a harsh movie, but not a sensational one.
Worth noting
Charlize Theron’s performance is the reason the film endures. She disappears into the role with startling physical and emotional specificity, while Christina Ricci gives the relationship a fragile tenderness that makes the tragedy even more painful. The movie’s empathy is complicated and sometimes uncomfortable, but that tension is exactly what gives it force.
Bottom line
This is not a film for casual viewing. Its violence, despair, and social bleakness can be draining, and its perspective is shaped by a very particular true-crime case that invites debate. But as a piece of acting, mood, and moral unease, it remains one of the most memorable crime dramas of its era.
Top Letterboxd reviews
single white femalien (3★) · 4029 likes
the rape scene in this is a good example of the way rape scenes should be handled. its not titillating or sexy for men. it's scary and awful and painful to watch, not b/c it's grotesquely fetishistic & there to remind you that the filmmaker doesn't see you, a woman, as a person worth making movies for but b/c it's a horrific violent assault being enacted on a woman. i don't know if that's necessary still but if rape has to
ivy wolk (4★) · 3265 likes
no cuz movies about women going to prison always make me so irrationally sad like free all my bitches fr
Joan (3.5★) · 2193 likes
don't call yourself a feminist if you don't support lesbian serial killers that kill their rapists 🗣🗣🗣
•°▪︎James▪︎°• (3.5★) · 1682 likes
Okay but who put a queer romcom into the middle of a serial killer biopic?
john (3.5★) · 1676 likes
This is like the Floridian version of "Portrait of a Lady on Fire"