Big girls do cry.
In her bio-pic Monster, filmmaker Patty Jenkins tries to explain what turned Florida highway prostitute Aileen Wuornos into a serial killer.
Jenkins' premise is that Wuornos only started killing when she found a reason to live.
Before the 40-year-old Wuornos -- portrayed here by South African beauty Charlize Theron -- met 18-year-old Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), she accepted that she was a worthless person incapable of loving or being loved.
Once she became infatuated and obsessed with the younger woman, Wuornos was determined to do anything to make Selby happy -- even if it meant murder.
What makes Monster much more than another sordid tale of sex and murder are the exceptional performances of its two leads.
As Wuornos, Theron is virtually unrecognizable. She's heavier, devoid of poise, lacking proper posture, laden with blotchy skin, droopy eyes chubby cheeks, and yellowed, misshapen teeth.
It's every bit as amazing a transformation as what Oscar-winners Hilary Swank achieved in Boys Don't Cry and Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull.
What makes it an Oscar-worthy turn is that Theron's performance is far from skin deep.
She captures Wuornos' soul as much as she does the woman's appearance.
Her walk and speech are not so much coarse and vulgar as they are world-weary; she seems as ill at ease in her skin as she does in her baggy clothes.
When Wuornos tells Selby she was abused as a child and exploited as a teenager, she is so detached that she seems to be talking about someone else.
It's one of those rare performances that is so complete it almost feels like possession and not just acting, which makes moments in the film as uncomfortable as they are poignant.
When she decides to become Selby's lover and protector, Wuornos tries to get a job with no qualifications, education or social skills.
After several painful, failed interviews, she confides to an employment councillor that she is a prostitute trying to reform her life.
The anguish in Theron's eyes is as devastating as the fury they contain when she turns her gun on the johns she kills and robs.
The only problem with Theron's performance is that it's so compelling it tends to dwarf what Ricci is doing with Selby.
Selby only pretends to be naive. Playing the frightened little animal is what endears Selby to Wuornos in the first place. If anyone is manipulating in this relationship it's Selby.
Ricci's performance is as skilled and calculated as Selby herself.
Monster is not an easy experience because Jenkins refuses to compromise either the violence or the sex because they're both essential elements in this story.
Theron and Ricci keep us riveted, even when it would be easier to distance ourselves as far as possible from this tragic story of two people who brought out the best and worst in each other.
Monster is a chilling and disturbing story that will forever define Theron's career.
(This film is rated 14-A)
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