An Academy Award-winning picture featuring two prominent Hollywood stars has been lauded as “powerful” and “jaw-droppingly good” by cinema enthusiasts, and it’s currently streaming on ITVX. The film, which hit screens in 2003, is a biographical crime drama chronicling the life of Aileen Wuornos, America’s first female serial killer, with Charlize Theron delivering an Oscar-winning portrayal of Wuornos and Christina Ricci as her partner, Selby Wall.

The narrative traces Wuornos’s harsh existence working as a prostitute, her intense yet turbulent romance with Selby, and her spiral into homicide following an act of self-defence against a violent punter, whilst also examining her frantic efforts to forge a brighter future. This critically lauded biographical crime drama marked the feature directorial debut of Patty Jenkins, securing Charlize an Academy Award for her stunning turn.

Charlize, who also served as producer, undertook a dramatic physical metamorphosis to embody Wuornos, including putting on 30 pounds, removing her eyebrows and donning a prosthetic overbite.

The picture has garnered widespread acclaim, achieving an 81% rating from audience reviews on film ratings platform Rotten Tomatoes. One viewer commented: “First time seeing this 22 years later, but had to check it out after the recent documentary about her on Netflix. A great movie and powerful acting.”

Another viewer praised: “Charlize Theron was definitely superb in her role in Monster, but I also believe Christina Ricci played a great role adding an opposite performance giving us a good look at Aileen’s past life and how it drove her to this life as a convicted killer.”

A third chimed in: “Charlize plays serial killer Aileen Wuornos exactly the way she should – a monster. Casting and location was on point with make-up for Charlize being a 10/10, if you didn’t know what she looks like outside of this film you would be just as shocked as the murders Aileen committed.”

They continued: “I wish there was more added towards the end leading up to her execution but that’s just my option. Overall, a gripping film with details of her life that could be questioned due to her later-in-life interviews but powerful story telling adding to a gritty story.”

A fourth declared: “An absolute masterpiece that is very traumatic and difficult to watch. It has what I consider to be the best female lead acting I have ever seen on camera in Charlize Theron. She is unreal.”

A fifth shared: “Oh, man – what a movie. Bawled my eyes out at the end, but the director really did an awesome job with allowing us to feel so incredibly connected with each character and feel for them and become incapsulated in the film.”

Another fan enthused: “Charlize Theron’s performance is stellar. Jaw-droppingly good movie.”

Monster is now available to watch on ITVX.