# Monster **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 7, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098 "2004-06-07T14:26:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/1 "2004-06-07T14:26:01Z")
I saw this movie last night and was highly impressed. Charlize Theron was amazing. I kept looking at her, trying to pick out the beautiful woman I knew was in there and I couldn’t ever crack her character. She nailed it. Does anyone know if they used prosthetics on her face? She looked so different, but I couldn’t decide if it was just the extra 30-40 pounds, or the fake teeth, or what. As to the story, I think it says a lot that a movie can make you pity one of the country’s most infamous killers. I’m glad they didn’t go the easy way and paint her as a cold-blooded evil remorseless thing–title notwithstanding. The scene where she is working herself up to kill the tubby guy, but ends up feeling sorry for him and just turns the trick. Waving cars past as she struggles to build herself up for another murder. The conversation with Selby at the end, where she has to know she’s being set up and you can see her accepting it, telling Selby she loves her anyway. She was a monster, because she did these awful things. But she was a woman too, who just wanted one good thing in her life to work for and strive towards. Very sad movie, but I’m glad I saw it. Anyone else enjoy this one? ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/2 "2004-06-07T14:35:47Z")
> [@](#): > > Anyone else enjoy this one? Yes. I actually hadn’t heard of her before I saw it, and was shocked when I found out she actually looks quite nice. She was amazing in this–I found her completely believable and absorbing throughout the entire movie. I also think Cristina Ricci (sp?) was under-appreciated in this. I wish more popular entetainment did such a good job humanzing perpetrators. Nice change from the whole “criminals are EEEE-VIL!” schtick. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/3 "2004-06-07T15:01:38Z")
I recently rented this myself. I have to say that the movie itself was very high quality and well done, but that I was intensely uncomfortable and repulsed throughout. One of those cases, IMHO, where I have been somehow lessened by seeing something. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/4 "2004-06-07T15:10:42Z")
I had a curious response to this movie. I thought the acting was great. The writing was good, all it needed to be, nothing more, nothign less. A captivating story. Direction was solid. But I was just totally bored. I guess I didn’t see what the “tension” was. It wasn’t like “are they going to stay together” or “are they going to get caught?”. It was just a series of events, each interesting and well done. I suppose I can best conclude with a cliche, “the whole was less than the sum of its parts.” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/5 "2004-06-07T15:15:10Z")
I also saw this last night, and was trying to decide whether to start a thread or not. What an amazing movie! I came out of it no less horrified by what she had done, but feeling so sad for her that that is where she’d ended up in her life. The movie was so, so dark – but so, so well done. Charlize Theron earned that Oscar fair and square. At the time, I kept hearing buzz that it was one of those lame-ass Oscar decisions based on her willingness to make herself ugly for the role – that was the least of it. She truly inhabited that character with all her uncomprehending rage. Christina Ricci was also fantastic. Ebert commented that some people thought she did a bad job, whereas IHHO she did an outstanding job of portraying a bad actor. I agree. I’ve told a couple of people to make sure they’re in the right mood to see it – but definitely see it. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/6 "2004-06-07T15:36:14Z")
One of the most depressing films I’ve ever seen, and as someone said, highly uncomfortable viewing; nevertheless, worth a look. Theron’s physical transformation for the film is at least as impressive as that of De Niro for ‘Raging Bull’ and I thought Ricci’s quietly subtle performance was fairly brilliant. I will say, however, that I’m didn’t really get anything about the human condition out of the movie that I didn’t already know from watching a week’s worth of COPS episodes. That’s not really to slag the film off, however. Not many American films pay any attention at all to the poor and dispossessed, much less treat them with any sense of authenticity, and when they do the public reaction usually seems to be “I don’t want to hear about it”. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/7 "2004-06-07T19:41:10Z")
I thought the movie was excellent. I can’t say that I “loved” it, because of the totally depressing subject matter. However, thought all the roles were brilliantly well acted. I don’t remember hearing about Theron’s character in the news (although I’m sure I must have) so it was interesting to be introduced to the story for the first time in the movie. I tried really hard to empathize with her character - in my currently life, the things that she did seem horrible, monsterous and evil - I have to wonder if my life had gone the same route as hers if I would have wound up being as evil as she was. I must say, preceding and during the first murder, she reacted the same way I imagine I would have - doing everything possible to save herself. I dunno - very creepy. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/8 "2004-06-07T20:06:37Z")
I was wondering about the face prosthetics too. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/9 "2004-06-07T20:24:39Z")
> [@](#): > > I must say, preceding and during the first murder, she reacted the same way I imagine I would have - doing everything possible to save herself. Definitely. And really, I wouldn’t even consider her first kill to be a “Murder”. She was defending herself, plain and simple. I wonder if she’d called the cops at that point, how things might have worked out differently. But she didn’t, instead she profited from the death–however unintentionally–and so a temptation was born. I also liked the way her second kill “mirrored” the first, with the guy asking for a BJ after paying for sex only. How she tried to project her fears of rape onto Tubby to psych herself up for his murder. How she bitched at the cop for going to a whore when he had a wife at home…etc. It showed how once you cross that line it gets easier and easier to find justification for doing so. But in that brief period where she was trying to go straight–my heart broke for her. The bitch in the temp office who wouldn’t even speak to her as if she were a fellow human being. The smug lawyer who was unnecessarily cruel–for sport it seemed. Even her girlfriend, who was actually _dissapointed_ that she had stopped hooking. And finally the cop who convinced her–sadly–that once a whore, always a whore. I understand completely how trapped she must have felt. And while that in no way excuses her actions–still–there but for the grace of God, and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/10 "2004-06-07T20:30:59Z")
From the [official Monster site](http://www.monsterfilm.com/story/transformation.html): > [@](#): > > One measure of Toni G.’s artistry is that, apart from the teeth, no appliances or prosthetics were used on Theron’s face to alter her appearance. The thickest area of makeup applied to the actress’s face was around her eyelids—gelatin that created weight on Theron’s eyelids, causing them to droop and making her look tired. “Everything else was paints,” explains Toni G. “Our goal was to keep it very clean and natural-looking. But there were a lot of layers there. It became all about taking her beautiful, creamy skin and building textures, adding dimension to it.” > > To achieve this effect, Toni G. started with clear sealers, which she dried completely to create an initial layer of skin texturization. “Then, I basically painted her face the way I would a prosthetic piece,” Toni G. explains of the makeup application procedure, which took between one-and-a-half to two hours and involved spattering makeup effects with an airbrush that mimic red tones, freckling, and sun damage. “Her face, her neck, her hands, everything had at least a light coat on it. And I hand painted the capillaries and additional shading to get the emphasis where I wanted, such as deepening her nasal folds.” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/11 "2004-06-07T21:33:34Z")
One of the most heartbreaking moments was the night they met, when she and Selby were in bed, and Selby reached over and stroked her face and told her how beautiful she was. The expression on Lee’s face… ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/12 "2004-06-07T22:25:01Z")
> [@belladonna](#): > > I wonder if she’d called the cops at that point, how things might have worked out differently. I thought that the incident with the cop earlier in the film (I think it was earlier - been a bit since I’ve seen it) where he pulls her over and basically say’s screw me or I’m going to bust your ass kinda tells the story of how that call would have worked out. I’m guessing, from her point of view, even if she had phoned the cops nothing very good would have come of it. I think prostitutes are treated pretty badly by many police officers (not all) and I think they become rather wary of trusting them. I felt really sorry for her - if you read a bit of her bio it’s totally depressing - she was diagnosed with a personality disorder and then had a really crap up-bringing and a crap early life - while she is totally responsible for her actions, I think her early influences are responsible for creating a person that could commit such crimes. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2004, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/13 "2004-06-07T23:10:02Z")
> [@](#): > > while she is totally responsible for her actions, I think her early influences are responsible for creating a person that could commit such crimes. I always liked how the movie made me feel concerned about all the tiny interactions in my life… how all the little things in a person’s life all add up to one big thing. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/monster/249098/14 "2004-06-08T01:10:46Z")
I don’t know if I could watch it again, but Theron truly is a volcano.