Evgeny Kogan. An example of cynicism

Cheap and not very attractive prostitute Eileen just can’t make money. She charges little for her services, and her love of alcohol, general masculinity and the night highway do not contribute much to the influx of solvent clientele. One day, in a gay bar, Eileen meets a young lesbian named Selba. She has a broken arm, problems with her parents and a disarming smile. For the first time, Eileen feels needed by at least someone, as a result of which she instantly falls in love and decides to take her new friend somewhere where they can be happy and carefree together. The trouble is that there is no money for this. Eileen has to go out onto the night highway again. But one of the clients decides to rape her. Then she empties the clip of her pistol into him and takes his money. And then it comes to taste...

Aileen Wuornos is a woman who actually existed. When she was little, she was raped by her father's friend. Since then, she began to actively “hang out” with the opposite sex, and then began to take money for it... In 1990, she was arrested, and her guilt in the murders was proven. And twelve years later, Eileen was executed. But before that, director Patty Jenkins and the lead actress in his film, Charlize Theron, spoke in prison with the first woman in the history of the United States of America to be officially named a serial killer. Eileen even allowed them to use their correspondence in the film. The result is the film " Monster ", an Oscar winner and one of the main attractions of Russian film distribution in early spring.

There is a certain whiff of cynicism in this whole story. Well, tell me, why should a simple viewer who comes to the cinema sympathize with an ugly woman who killed men with a pistol, took their money and cars and indulged her lover in everything - a young pretty lesbian, a real spoiled bitch with beautiful eyes? Even that same correspondence, taken from real life, does not help, although it saturates the picture with the necessary tear-jerking sentimentalism.

It is also cynical that one of the most chic women in Hollywood, the real blonde Charlize Theron , was invited to play the role of the ugly and unhappy Aileen Wuornos. For the sake of “Monster,” the actress had to gain several more than noticeable kilograms of live weight, and also allow make-up artists to disfigure her angelic face. True, the American Film Academy Award atoned for this suffering. It is also cynical that the young lesbian Selba is played by Christina Ricci - a very beautiful girl, in my subjective opinion. While Eileen’s real girlfriend was not particularly beautiful either.

Although, in fairness, it must be admitted that both Theron and Ricci perform the tasks set by the director in an exemplary manner. Especially Theron. A girl from high society, accustomed to the fact that her best friends are diamonds, the actress masterfully portrays masculinity, cackles and smokes like a truck driver, waddles and actively gesticulates. And Ricci is not far behind, however, no one seems to doubt her acting abilities.

But it's not that. The film "Monster" in general is an example of cynicism. Having secured the support of the opening title "the film is based on real events", the director, it seems, completely abandons the thought process and chooses the easiest of all possible paths. And instead of a drama about loneliness or, what would be much better, an absurdist story about a mentally ill woman (and American experts proved that Aileen Wuornos was a sick person), the result is a predictable, pretentious and, most importantly, cowardly movie, denouncing society, an acute social statement , not achieving the goal. A movie in which a cheap prostitute with no education, communicating only with drunken visitors of roadside bars, expresses herself in stilted speeches. A movie in which a lesbian bitch with an angelic gaze pokes her finger at her ex-girlfriend during the trial, just like the heroes of the old science fiction “Body Snatchers” did when they were enslaved by aliens. A movie whose deliberate realism has no strength to be believed. Firstly, because it is impossible to feel sympathy for the main character, no matter how unhappy the director tries to show her (and no matter how unhappy she really is). And secondly, because "Monster" is just a boring movie.

It's even insulting. "Boys Don't Cry" was much more relevant. And more frankly.